Dad wins £285k after rugby post broke his skull
A DAD who suffered a broken skull when a goalpost collapsed while he watched his young son play rugby has won £285,000 compensation.
Brian Morrow, 50, was knocked out in the freak accident when an upright post fell away from the crossbar.
The High Court heard he struggled to cope with the outcome of the accident at Shrewsbury RFC in February 2016 and had to give up his lucrative career as a financial adviser.
Mr Morrow, of Oswestry, Shropshire, and his hairdresser wife Bethan Hartey-Morrow had been watching their son play for the under-11s at the club’s Sundorne Castle ground.
The game, being a junior match, was held across the width of the field, with parents standing by the try-line close to the posts.
After the accident, Mr Morrow was taken to Royal Shrewsbury Hospital where it was revealed he had suffered multiple skull fractures and a cut which had to be sutured, leaving a scar.
He returned to his work as Manchester branch head at LEBC Group, a financial advice company, but stopped working in the job he “loved” in April 2017.
Mr Morrow claimed the accident had left him incapable of ever doing well-paid work again, robbing him of the best years of his career.
He has since taken on an unpaid gardening role at the National Trust’s Chirk Castle, near Wrexham.
Prior to his injury he had suffered epilepsy yet it was well-controlled and he had not had a fit for nearly 20 years.
But in November 2016, he claimed he had two seizures and feared that if he was to return to a stressful job his epilepsy would recur. He added he was scared of having sleep seizures, suffered from vertigo and tinnitus plus a loss of smell and taste.
Mr Morrow claimed that he felt on the outside of conversations when he was with friends as he took longer to process what was being said.
One psychiatrist told the court Mr Morrow’s fear of further seizures might actually be the “most disabling of his current symptoms”.
The rugby club admitted liability but claimed Mr Morrow had overstated the effect of the accident.
Mr Justice Farbey said Mr Morrow had, in some respects, minimised his pre-accident condition in order to maximise the effect of his symptoms.
He added: “I do not accept that he has given a full or accurate picture of his stress levels prior to the accident.”
But the judge ruled that the psychiatric legacy of the “sudden and shocking” incident meant Mr Morrow had been forced to give up his job as a financial adviser.
He said: “But for the accident, he would not have stopped work.”
Mr Justice Farbey, who made his judgment in February, has now ordered the club to pay only 85 per cent of Mr Morrow’s legal costs.
He granted a reduction after finding Mr Morrow had “exaggerated his claim” by asking for more than £1million.
Yet the judge added: “He was not dishonest. His psychiatric or psychological condition may have made him prone to exaggeration.”
‘Mr Morrow’s fear of further seizures might actually be the most disabling of his current symptoms’