Teacher loses battle to prove crash link to crippling disease

Published on Friday 7 November 2008 21:26

A GIFTED teacher who was injured in a road accident won a judge's praise yesterday but lost a claim for more than £130,000 damages after failing to persuade him the crash had speeded up her Parkinson's disease.

Sarah Smith, 59, was unaware she had the condition in January 2003 when she was involved in a collision on her way to work and suffered minor injuries. Soon after the crash, however, she developed a tremor on her left side and Parkinson's disease was diagnosed.

Lawyers for Mrs Smith, who knows eight languages and worked with non-English-speaking children in Glasgow, tried to argue at the Court of Session in Edinburgh that the accident had accelerated the disease's progress by up to seven years.

Lord McEwan said medical opinion was divided on whether a head injury could cause or worsen Parkinson's disease, and remained unconvinced that Mrs Smith had sustained such an injury, far less that it had accelerated her condition.

If Mrs Smith had proved her case, she would have been awarded 137,000 in damages, but the judge ruled she was entitled to only 4,500 for pain to her neck, back and leg.

Lord McEwan said: "I am deeply sorry for (Mrs Smith], who presented herself with restraint and moderation. She made light of her condition.

"Many would not have behaved so. I do not doubt that she will forever believe the car crash has brought on her misfortune. Some day, medicine and science may prove her correct, but that is for future generations."

The crash happened on the A77 near Kilmarnock, Ayrshire. Mrs Smith was driving from her home in Prestwick, Ayrshire, to Glasgow, and a lorry pulled out of a lay-by, causing her to brake. A car "coming at speed" from behind ran into her, and her vehicle was lifted up, spun and hit the central reservation.

The driver of the other car, Lorna McNair, 39, of Kilmarnock, admitted liability, leaving the amount of damages as the only issue in the case.

Lord McEwan said Mrs Smith was a support teacher with special gifts whose life had been blighted by the events of that day.

It was now known, although Mrs Smith had been unaware of it, that she had Parkinson's disease at the time of the accident, and it would inevitably have developed at some stage. In the weeks following the crash, she noticed her left arm was beginning to shake. In November 2004, the diagnosis was made.

The judge was referred to medical studies on a possible connection between head trauma and Parkinson's disease. He said they seemed to raise more questions than answers and any link was "at best controversial".

In any event, he added, it was impossible to conclude that Mrs Smith had sustained any head injury.

"Unless there is proof she suffered a head injury, her major claim cannot be proved," said Lord McEwan.

He held that Mrs Smith, who declined to comment after the case, was entitled to only a relatively small amount of damages for the minor injuries she had suffered in the accident.