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$40m award - Gov't told it must pay damages to man crippled in cop shooting
Published: Friday | December 19, 2008
Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter
Government has been ordered by the Supreme Court to pay $40 million in damages to a 20-year-old man who was shot in the back by a policeman.
The award is one of the highest ever in a personal injury suit against the state.
Lloyd Clarke, an apprentice mason of Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland, is now crippled from the waist down and has to get constant nursing care.
Clarke was walking on Barclay Street, Savanna-la-Mar, on July 24, 2006, when he was shot in the back and right elbow by one or other of three policemen who were named as defendants.
Severed spinal cord
Clarke suffered a completely severed spinal cord which caused complete paralysis from the waist down. He was treated at the Cornwall Regional Hospital between July 24 and August 2, 2006, and thereafter spent 42 days at the Sir John Golding Rehabilitation Centre.
Clarke, who was represented by attorney-at-law Don O. Foote, sued Corporal E. F. Quest, Constable R. Barrett and District Constable M. Bernard and the attorney general to recover damages.
The medical evidence was that Clarke would not be able to work again as a mason and would be totally dependent on someone to help with his personal hygiene.
Acting Supreme Court Judge Sarah Thompson-James heard evidence in the matter and ruled that the defendants were liable to pay damages.
Mr Justice Roy Anderson assessed damages last week and ordered the Government to pay general damages of $26 million with interest for pain and suffering and loss of amenities. Clarke was awarded US$7,500 (J$600,000) for a motorised wheelchair. He was also awarded $3.3 million for loss of future earnings and $7.8 million for future nursing and personal care.
Legal costs have been set at $76,000.
The judge said that awards for personal injuries of the severity of those which Clarke suffered should be geared towards the provision of as comfortable a life as possible because Clarke had lost almost everything.
barbara.gayle@gleanerjm.com
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/glean...ead/lead1.html
Published: Friday | December 19, 2008
Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter
Government has been ordered by the Supreme Court to pay $40 million in damages to a 20-year-old man who was shot in the back by a policeman.
The award is one of the highest ever in a personal injury suit against the state.
Lloyd Clarke, an apprentice mason of Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland, is now crippled from the waist down and has to get constant nursing care.
Clarke was walking on Barclay Street, Savanna-la-Mar, on July 24, 2006, when he was shot in the back and right elbow by one or other of three policemen who were named as defendants.
Severed spinal cord
Clarke suffered a completely severed spinal cord which caused complete paralysis from the waist down. He was treated at the Cornwall Regional Hospital between July 24 and August 2, 2006, and thereafter spent 42 days at the Sir John Golding Rehabilitation Centre.
Clarke, who was represented by attorney-at-law Don O. Foote, sued Corporal E. F. Quest, Constable R. Barrett and District Constable M. Bernard and the attorney general to recover damages.
The medical evidence was that Clarke would not be able to work again as a mason and would be totally dependent on someone to help with his personal hygiene.
Acting Supreme Court Judge Sarah Thompson-James heard evidence in the matter and ruled that the defendants were liable to pay damages.
Mr Justice Roy Anderson assessed damages last week and ordered the Government to pay general damages of $26 million with interest for pain and suffering and loss of amenities. Clarke was awarded US$7,500 (J$600,000) for a motorised wheelchair. He was also awarded $3.3 million for loss of future earnings and $7.8 million for future nursing and personal care.
Legal costs have been set at $76,000.
The judge said that awards for personal injuries of the severity of those which Clarke suffered should be geared towards the provision of as comfortable a life as possible because Clarke had lost almost everything.
barbara.gayle@gleanerjm.com
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/glean...ead/lead1.html
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