Exchange Chambers’ Chris Gutteridge secures two significant settlements in close succession

Chris Gutteridge from Exchange Chambers has secured significant recent settlements for two claimants after being instructed by Thompsons Solicitors.

The first case involved a boy, now 10, who suffered a hypoxic brain injury due to the negligent management of his mother’s labour. Gutteridge secured compensation of £4.5million plus annual payments reaching over £190,000 for the boy. The combined payments will pay for work on his home and professional care which will continue for the rest of his life. The settlement (which was agreed at the current -0.75% discount rate) received High Court approval in September.

In the second case, the barrister obtained a significant sum in compensation for a Royal Marine who saw his leg amputated after a car crash.

The former soldier, Lee Spencer, who has rowed the Atlantic Ocean since his injury, was injured in 2014 when he stopped at the side of a motorway to help the occupants of a car that had crashed into the central reservation. As he walked towards the stranded car, another motorist collided with it, sending debris towards him and causing a traumatic amputation of his right lower leg.

In 2016, Spencer and three other ex-military amputees rowed nearly 3,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean for charity. He is now embarking upon a solo row covering 3,500 miles of the Atlantic from Gibraltar to Venezuela. He will be the first physically disabled person to row solo and unsupported from continental Europe to continental America. He also plans to break the current record time for doing so by an able-bodied rower – 96 days.

Gutteridge said: “Lee is a truly inspirational man. He has fought incredibly hard and achieved some amazing things since his injury. This compensation will ensure that he can continue to live his life to the fullest in a new home appropriately adapted for an amputee, with professional care later in his life and, of course, state of the art prosthetics – including a leg designed specifically for his rowing.”

Gutteridge was led by Amanda Yip QC in both cases. He was instructed by Linda Millband, head of clinical negligence at Thompsons Solicitors in the first case, and by Lisa Gunner from the same firm in the second claim.

Mark Dugdale