Tenant of housing association wins £2.5m after tree branch injury

Published by Ross Macmillan for 24dash.com in Housing

The tenant of a housing association left in a "locked-in" state after he was hit on the head by a branch which broke off a tree overhanging his back garden in Oxfordshire has been awarded £2.5 million damages.

Royal Mail worker Jason Thatcher's situation was particularly tragic as, although the severe injury to his brain stem had affected his mobility, independence and communication, his cognition was largely if not completely intact, Chris Bright QC said.

Before the January 2007 incident in Walker Close, Woodcote, Mr Thatcher was a normal 38-year-old family man, the lawyer told Mr Justice Eady at London's High Court.

After months of rehabilitation in hospital and in Leonard Cheshire homes, it was now his very strong desire to return to his wife Sharon, and two young daughters - and the compensation would allow that to happen with the purchase of a specially-adapted house and a lifelong care package.

Mr Bright said that the whole extended family had been unfailing in the selfless care and devotion they had shown Mr Thatcher since the accident, visiting him almost every day.

Mr Thatcher and his wife were tenants of Sovereign Housing Association, which acquired the land around Walker Close in 1998, it having been the site of an arboretum.

Mr Bright said that Sovereign, of Newbury, Berkshire, had consistently denied liability and, if the case had gone to trial, there would have been a significant risk of Mr Thatcher recovering nothing.

He added: "Tree cases are difficult. Notwithstanding the size of the Atlantic cedar in a fairly compact residential area, the known propensity of co-dominant leader branches to fail and the significant level of usage of the area, it is not automatic that liability will be determined."

Mr Thatcher's case on breach of duty and causation was not straightforward and would have been pitched against the background that the enormous tree was otherwise healthy.

The judge approved the agreed settlement, which includes a £100,000 payment to the family for its past care and which Mr Bright said would fund holidays and an enhanced quality of life for Mr Thatcher.

A Sovereign spokesperson said: "We are pleased that this insurance agreement has been resolved for Mr Thatcher and his family.

"Since this incident, we have enhanced our approach to tree safety, something we take very seriously. This includes advising our tenants about this issue and carrying out checks to ensure that trees do not pose a risk to our residents or the public."