Accident man loses damages claim

Similar cases have resulted in six-figure compensation

A Lincolnshire man has lost a damages case for brain injuries suffered when he was hit by a car after drinking 16 vodka-and-cokes.

Raymond Finch, of Sea Road, Anderby, suffered brain injuries when hit by a car while crossing the road in Stoke Hammond, Buckinghamshire.

He claimed the driver of the car had not taken enough care while driving through the village.

But the High Court judge ruled Mr Finch, who had drunk 16 vodka-and-cokes, had stepped into the road so suddenly the driver had no chance to stop.

Without warning

Mr Finch, now 51, was hit by a car driven by Karen Heywood-Kenny, from Milton Keynes, just after midnight on 20 June 1998.

Ever since the accident, his barrister Gavin Mansfield said, he had suffered from poor short-term memory and numerous other problems due to a "severe brain injury".

But Deputy High Court Judge John Crowley QC ruled on Friday no blame could be attached to Mrs Heywood-Kenny.

The judge said Mr Finch had stepped into the road without warning, and, even if Mrs Heywood-Kenny, then 22, had seen him, she would not have stood a chance of avoiding him.

Inebriated customers

"Mr Finch had a sudden impulse and simply, in his drunken state, set off across the road," said Judge Crowley.

"I have every sympathy with Mr Finch - that what he set out to enjoy as a good night out should have ended in injury is tragic.

"But this claim against Mrs Heywood-Kenny cannot succeed."

Earlier Mr Finch's barrister, Gavin Mansfield, argued Mrs Heywood-Kenny should have been "on her guard" because she had just driven past the pub, and there was the possibility of inebriated customers posing a hazard to motorists.

But Judge Crowley exonerated Mrs Heywood-Kenny of any blame.

She was travelling at around 25mph when she struck Mr Finch, who had stepped out on to the A4146, a road that runs through Stoke Hammond.