CCC (by her mother and litigation friend MMM) (AP) (Appellant) v Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Respondent)

Hearing listed

Case summary
Appeal
Change log

Case summary

Case ID

UKSC/2023/0111

Parties

Appellant(s)

CCC

Respondent(s)

Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Issue

Is the Appellant entitled to lost years earnings from the Respondent?

Facts

The Appellant was born on 6 February 2015. Appellant sustained a hypoxic brain injury at the time of birth and now has severe cerebral palsy and is dependent on the care of others. The Respondent is an NHS Trust who is responsible for the management of the Jessop Wing, the hospital where the Appellant was born. It admits that its negligence is the cause of the Appellant’s brain injury. The Appellant brought a claim for damages for her loss of income, from earnings and pensions, in the period between the end of her actual life-expectancy and her uninjured life-expectancy. The parties agreed that the trial judge, Ritche J, was bound by the decision of the Court of Appeal in Croke v Wiseman [1982] 1 WLR 71, which prohibited him from making any award of damages for lost years in the case of a young and severely injured child. The Appellant maintains that this authority is inconsistent with previous authority from the House of Lords and claims £823,506 for lost years in addition to £224,000 for loss of earnings. The trial judge awarded the Appellant damages on a lump sum and periodical payment basis in relation to the other heads of loss, excluding the claim for lost years. The lump sum element of the award was £6,866,615 with periodical payments for care and case management of £394,940 per annum. The Appellant sought a leapfrog appeal to the Supreme Court, asking the trial judge to assess the value of the claim for lost years to assist the efficient disposal of the claim in the event of a successful appeal. The trial judge granted the Appellant a certificate for a leapfrog appeal on the issue of lost years pursuant to s.12 of the Administration of Justice Act 1969, with permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal in the event that the Supreme Court refused permission to appeal to it directly but declined to assess the value of the claim in the meantime.