Claire Gribben

Full Profile

She has extensive experience advising on a wide variety of complex claims.  These will involve: brain injury (ranging from those involving very severe brain injury resulting in a persistent, vegetative state to subtle, but complex and often significantly overvalued, brain injury claims), tetraplegia, paraplegia, amputations, spinal injury, fatal accidents (including those claiming secondary victim status), somatoform disorders, Functional Neurological Symptom Disorders and Chronic pain.  

She is instructed in a variety of fields for injuries arising out of employers’ liability, public liability, motor, local authority, sports, animals act and product liability claims (including medical / drug trials) to include current, ongoing, high-profile cases with high media interest.  Due to the nature of her work, she is well-versed in regulatory and criminal prosecutions, working alongside the teams representing the Insured and ensuring that their interest in the civil claim is well-protected.

Claire prefers to advocate on behalf of the Insurer at JSM's and other forms of ADR, even on the most serious of injury work, given her in-depth knowledge of the case and her highly analytical approach. She has been described in the Legal 500 as "Giving her all for her clients and leaving no stone unturned" and has earned a reputation as a fierce opponent in cases involving fraud and fundamental dishonesty.  Possibly due to this approach, her technical powers of negotiation and persuasion are prolific when it comes to securing acceptance of early offers, a discontinuance, or a preferential evidential outcome either in negotiations or at Trial, whilst always bearing in mind the best economic outcome for the client and advising on early, appropriate, offers that will lead to the conclusion of a case at the least possible cost.   

She adopts a proactive and strategic approach in relation to care and accommodation claims that will achieve the best possible outcome for her client, including the pursuit of statutory funding, agreement in respect of apportionment and reverse indemnities. She is well-versed in PPO's, including the recurring calculations and management of the same.  She has a keen an interest in the fields of neuroimaging and technological rehabilitation, and uses her experience and insight to her client’s advantage.

Experience

Claire's analytical approach has recently brought about much success and her notable results include:

• Proactive and sensible management of a personal injury claim pleaded at £33m in relation to a young child with severe brain injury and resultant cognitive and physical debility.
• Securing acceptance of an offer of £100k incl. costs, in order to avoid continued protracted costs in defending a claim involving a triple amputee, whose damages exceeded £7million, but whose actions wholly led to the accident.
• Settling a claim for a paraplegic in the sum of £1million, whose damages exceeded £5million, due to a forensic analysis of the Claimant’s pre-accident lifestyle and likely reduced life expectancy in the absence of the accident.
• Secured a discontinuance of a claim involving a young man, lying in the road, and having suffered a severe traumatic brain injury, with damages in excess of £1million.
• Application for, securing, and apportionment of CCG funding on a 70/30 basis in the Defendant's favour, where the Claimant had not been contributory negligent and had refused to claim statutory funding to date, resulting in an annual 'refund' to the Insurer of over £130k p.a.
• Following a 7 day Trial, achieving the striking out of a case in its entirety, which had been pleaded at over £1million during the course of the litigation, despite liability having been admitted and the resultant injury being psychiatric in nature, on the grounds of Fundamental Dishonesty.  The Claimant was found in Contempt of Court and the Claimant (a wealthy Assistant Film Director and property owner) was Ordered to repay the Defendant’s costs, which exceeded £500,000. Pinkus v Direct Line [2018] EWHC 1671 (QB).
• Securing a discontinuance of a claim involving genuine, severe, orthopaedic injury, that would have resulted in payment close to £1million, on the basis of surveillance evidence and her hard-line approach to fraud.