Noah was crossing the road just north of Melbourne when a small car came speeding through and hit him. He was left with a serious hip injury that eventually required surgery.
At first, the Transport Accident Commission (TAC) helped cover immediate statutory benefits such as medical expenses and lost wages while he was off work. But when it came to a lump sum compensation claim, they said he didn’t qualify. According to the TAC, Noah was at fault for the accident because he hadn’t used the designated pedestrian crossing.
The police report backed that up. It said he was within 20 metres of a crossing and should have used it. But Noah wasn’t so sure. He was in pain, struggling to get back to work as a business development manager, and feeling overwhelmed. That’s when he reached out to us at Law Partners.
A specialist lawyer will review your circumstances and tell you how much you can claim.
One of our senior solicitors, Catie Norman, took on Noah’s case. She’s a specialist in Victorian motor vehicle accident claims, and she wasn’t convinced by the TAC’s decision.
So, she did what we do best: she investigated the situation. Catie went to the accident scene with Noah and brought a tape measure. They found the crossing wasn’t 20 metres away, it was more like 50 or 60 metres.
Catie also filmed the area with a smartphone and saw plenty of other people crossing at the same spot Noah had. It wasn’t unusual or reckless, it was largely just how people crossed at that location.
Then they looked at and recorded the driver’s actions. The car had pulled out of a petrol station before hitting Noah. From that angle, it would’ve been nearly impossible not to see someone crossing the road. They even found that the police report was wrong about one key detail – it said Noah had been fined, but he never actually was.
Armed with all this evidence, we went to a conference with the TAC. At first, they stuck to their position. Noah was at fault, and that meant no lump sum. But we calmly laid out everything we’d found. We argued that even if Noah shared some responsibility, the driver clearly did too. That’s called contributory negligence, and it can still lead to a lump sum payout.
In the end, the TAC agreed. They awarded Noah a $285,000 lump sum for his injuries. On top of that, we helped him secure a further $62,000 impairment benefit, which he was entitled to regardless of fault.
As Noah said, “This changed everything for me. I was under so much stress, and this payout gave me the chance to pay off my mortgage and feel secure again. I’ll probably have to retire earlier than I planned, and I might need more time off or treatment in the future. But at least now I know I can manage that. I’m so thankful to Catie and the Law Partners team for really getting stuck in, not giving up and fighting for me.”
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