£1.75 million for North Wootton man
COMPENSATION of more than £1.75 million has been awarded to a gifted lighting technician whose dream of a career in the rock music industry was shattered in a catastrophic car crash.
The ruling was made in London's High Court on Friday and saw Graham Leesmith (29), of Tyndale, North Wootton, receive 600,000 in damages along with a further 1.15 million, which had been earlier agreed for his pain and suffering.
Mr Leesmith endured a surgical amputation through the left knee following the crash in October 2003, when he was struck by an oncoming car as he travelled along the A426 near Leatherhead, Surrey, on a motorcycle.
He also suffered two fractured fingers in his right hand.
The issue of liability for the accident has not been disputed but the case reached the High Court last month after Mr Justice Cooke heard exhaustive evidence on the question of compensation.
The court heard how Mr Leesmith was striving to carve out a career in the world of concert lighting at the time, with dreams of making it to the very top of the profession, but his injuries shattered these plans.
In the years after the crash he took a job at the pierside theatre in Yarmouth, where he first started out as a teenager, and later accepted a post at a college in Norwich.
Mr Leesmith had originally claimed for damages of more than 2.7 million – largely for future loss of earnings – stating that, but for the accident, he would have reached the very top of his chosen career.
However, defence lawyers argued his claim was only worth 172,000, disputing the career progression potential.
Mr Leesmith stated his single-minded passion for his work and sheer determination would have taken him from his position as a warehouse technician at the time of the crash to that of a high-flying rock music lighting engineer, earning 250,000 a year by the age of 40.
The judge accepted that Mr Leesmith, although sometimes "difficult with colleagues", had the necessary drive to progress in his chosen lighting career, but failed to accept he would have risen to the very top.
Mr Justice Cooke further rejected defence claims that Mr Leesmith's ambitions might have been diluted by his use of illegal drugs in the past, concluding that such use was minimal and would not have affected his future prospects.
He acknowledged that Mr Leesmith had an "exaggerated idea" of his skills but added he would have progressed to carving out a lucrative career, even though he may not have reached the very top.
Mr Justice Cooke said: "I regard the prospects of him ever becoming a lighting designer, let alone a high-flying Woodroffe-type figure, as so remote as to be speculative.
"I do not find that there is substantial or significant chance of him ever reaching such heights and so consider it no further."
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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