Victory for crash hero taken to court by insurers after helping woman stranded
Victory for crash hero taken to court by insurers after helping woman stranded on motorway
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 11:58 PM on 14th May 2010
It was the act of a Good Samaritan which was to have terrible consequences.
Seeing a car crash on his way to work, David Tolley pulled over to rescue its woman driver.
But as he did so, he was hit by two other vehicles – and left paralysed.
He should have been commended for his courage. Instead, insurance companies took him to court, accusing him of bringing his injuries upon himself.
Good Samaritan: David Tolley was paralysed as he helped a motorist
In the first recorded case of insurers challenging an accident ‘rescuer’ over liability, they claimed he should forfeit up to a third of his compensation.
But a judge rejected their claim – declaring that ‘bravery is not the same as foolhardiness’.
Mr Tolley, 46, from Birkenhead, Merseyside, was driving on the M53 when he pulled on to the hard shoulder to help an accident victim.
He crossed the motorway to rescue a woman driver who had crashed into the central reservation following an early-morning hailstorm.
He returned to move her car – which was blocking the fast lane – to prevent further accidents.
It was then that two other vehicles, a Vauxhall Corsa and a Ford Transit van, ploughed into the car, throwing Mr Tolley 35ft along the carriageway.
He broke his back, fractured ten ribs, almost severed his spinal cord, suffered numerous and near-fatal lung punctures, spent seven months in hospital and is now paraplegic.
Lawyers for three insurance firms claimed Mr Tolley, formerly an engineering tool maker, must accept ‘contributory negligence’.
Mr Tolley said: ‘To suggest that I was somehow to blame is nothing short of disgraceful.
'I wish things had turned out differently but I couldn’t have stood by. My concern was that somebody could have hit that car and caused a pile-up.
‘I don’t like the term hero, I’d prefer to say I was being a Good Samaritan.’
He was represented by solicitor Ed Fletcher, who is himself paraplegic following a motorbike accident, and who leads the spinal law team at Fletchers Solicitors in Southport.
Mr Fletcher said: ‘It is outrageous in such a clear-cut case to put a hero through a full-blown trial and to suggest that he was in some way to blame for an accident in which he was acting to rescue a single female stranded in the motorway.
‘It is beyond belief. I thought insurance companies were more sensible than this. This man should have been going to the Palace, not to a courtroom. He deserves a medal.
‘There is no case law on “rescuer” cases involving road traffic accident cases ever reported in the history of English Law. This shows how bizarre the decision of the insurers was to fight this.’
On Wednesday, at the end of a two-day hearing at Chester High Court, Mr Justice Hickinbottom said: ‘The blameworthiness in this case does not lay at Mr Tolley’s door. There are many decent men would not have acted as bravely as Mr Tolley.
‘Exceptional bravery is not the same as foolhardiness. His actions fall within the brave and commendable categories, and not the foolhardy.’
Mr Tolley, who used to enjoy hill walking and weight training, has since moved to a bungalow speciallyadapted for his wheelchair with his wife Hilary.
The insurance companies – Equity Red Star, Co- operative Insurance and Admiral Insurance – represented the rescued the driver and the two involved in the subsequent collision.
They argued that Mr Tolley failed to take reasonable care for his own safety in the accident in November 2006. The size of the settlement has yet to be fixed.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1278354/Good-Samaritan-paralysed-helping-woman-stranded-motorway-taken-court-insurers-said-It-fault.html#ixzz0o4gNgCU2
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