Damages recovered for pedestrian hit by car when crossing road in Spain

We were able to secure substantial compensation after pursuing a pedestrian accident claim for a young British man, who was hit by a vehicle and sustained serious injuries while on holiday in Spain. Our client had joined a group of friends on a stag weekend in southern Spain.

He had become separated from his group and was crossing the road in the early hours of the morning when our client was hit by a speeding vehicle. He received emergency roadside care and remained in hospital for a week. When he was able to return to the UK, he immediately continued treatment, undergoing a number of operations on his leg. Sadly, his injuries prevented him from working for several months.

Given the severity of the incident, local police attended the scene and filed a full accident report. In order to help us build a more complete understanding of the evening’s events, we instructed our Spanish lawyers to obtain a copy of the accident report. The report provided details of the driver’s Spanish insurers, thereby enabling us to obtain details of their UK handling agents. In order to achieve the best outcome for our client, we felt it was important for the claim to be pursued in England, rather than in Spain, and so we contacted the UK handling agents who agreed to act for the Spanish insurer in the English courts.

As the accident occurred in Spain, Spanish law applied to both liability and damages, even though the English courts were able to determine the claim. We have extensive experience of handling claims arising from accidents in Spain and worked closely with our Spanish lawyers to build a persuasive case on behalf of our client, and provide advice on liability and evaluating his claim under Spanish law.

Although liability was disputed, we were able to successfully negotiate a substantial sum of damages which helped support our client’s return to health and to manage the financial loss he had incurred as a result of the accident.

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