Interim Payments – Periodical Payment Orders

The claimant applied for an interim payment in the sum of £100,000 in respect of damages for personal injury in this claim in which liability had been admitted by the defendants, subject to an agreed reduction in damages for contributory negligence of 50%. It was agreed that the claimant suffered brain damage but it was not clear whether this was as a result of the accident or his alcohol dependence syndrome. It was also unclear whether it was the claimant’s alcohol dependence syndrome which had resulted in his need for case management and support. The claimant alleged that his claim was worth over £1 million, net of the agreed liability split, and that he required an intensive care package. The defendants contended that a further periodical payment of £100,000 (one payment in that sum having already been made) could detrimentally affect the ability of the trial judge to make a PPO for future care and case management. 

 

It was held that, on the defendants’ figures, the annual amount of a PPO would be very low. Together with other issues, including the claimant’s strong preference for a lump sum award, it was very unlikely that the trial judge would award a PPO. The uncertainty as to whether the claimant would abstain from alcohol lead to questions arising as to his life expectancy and the extent of his need for care. If the court concluded that his care needs arose wholly from the accident, a PPO would be too rigid to provide compensation given the way in which the care needs could vary. The claimant’s future involved contingencies that could give rise to substantial needs so much so that the claimant submitted that a lump sum rather than a PPO was needed so as to provide him with funds that could be deployed either to guard against those contingencies or to meet any needs arising from them. It was in the claimant’s best interests to have the maximum flexibility to make use of his damages in countering the problems of alcohol dependency, even if the defendants were not responsible for that. An order for an interim payment might adversely affect the court’s ability to make a PPO and, therefore, the court would have to be satisfied to a high degree of confidence that an interim payment was reasonably necessary. It was held that a PPO would not be in the claimant’s best interests and, on that basis, it was ordered that an interim payment be made.