Guernsey cyclist Manny Helmot retains £14m compensation
A badly injured Commonwealth Games cyclist will keep his record £14m compensation payment, after insurers failed to have it reduced on appeal.
Manny Helmot received the pay-out after suffering brain damage when he was hit head-on by a vehicle while on a training ride in Guernsey in 1998.
The sum took into account a prediction of future inflation and it was this that the insurers sought to overturn.
However, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council upheld the earlier award.
Lawyers acting for insurers Tradex argued that the amount should be reduced by £4.5m and an earlier award of £9.5m restored.
Alistair Schaff QC said: "Full compensation is not at issue in this appeal. What is at issue is how one goes about assessing full compensation."
Dismissing the appeal, Lord Hope said Mr Helmot had "many years ahead of him during which the constant care and attention that he needs will require to be paid for".
Advocate Gordon Dawes, who has represented Mr Helmot since 1998, said it was a "wonderful result".
"He and his family were of course anxious they should succeed because the money was necessary for his future care," he said.
He also suggested the judgement could have a knock-on effect in other common law jurisdictions that, like Guernsey, do not have a statute for periodical compensation payments, and instead award lump sums.
Mr Helmot represented Guernsey at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur.
He spent 36 weeks in hospital after the collision with a car driven by Dylan Simon.