A woman who sustained a brain injury after falling from a seaside pier has been denied compensation after a judge ruled she was “thoroughly dishonest” in her claim.
Business Insider reported that Kirsty Williams-Henry, 33, incurred multiple injuries in 2018 after falling from Aberavon Pier in the UK while observing bioluminescent plankton in the sea.
As she was returning to shore, she fell between 12 and 15 feet onto the rocks and sand below, as there were no safety barriers along the pier.
Williams-Henry sued the pier’s owner, Associated British Ports Holdings Ltd, seeking more than £2.5 million in damages.
The company argued that Williams-Henry was entitled to around £370,000 but insisted the claim should be dismissed, alleging she had been dishonest about the severity of her injuries and their impact on her daily life.
Williams-Henry denied ever lying about her injuries, saying that she had not received proper rehabilitation since the incident.
However, Justice Andrew Ritchie, a judge on the High Court of England and Wales ruled in favour of the defendant, stating: “I have come to the conclusion that both the claimant and her mother have been thoroughly dishonest in their presentation of the claimant’s symptoms and disabilities.”
He said they “sought to mislead clinicians, medico legal experts and this court about the claimant’s health, functioning, activities of daily living and her work abilities.”
Justice Ritchie determined that Williams-Henry sustained a “moderately severe” brain injury from the fall, in addition to skull and other bone fractures. Following an eight-day stay in intensive care, she also experienced depression, anxiety, and mild post-traumatic stress disorder.
Despite being entitled to Williams-Henry £596,704 in damages for her “genuine” injuries, he found Williams-Henry to have been “dishonest and manipulative,” and so dismissed the case.
He added: “I know it looks like a large sum of money to deprive a genuinely injured person of, but Parliament sought to stamp out dishonesty, which is fundamental in personal injury claims, and the claimant has breached this law.”
