§ PUBLISHED JUDGMENT · 2023

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

[2023] EWHC 1770 (KB)·High Court (King's Bench Division)·12 July 2023

The CTG showed a pathological trace that went unread for 50 minutes before an emergency caesarean; the child was born with severe quadriplegic cerebral palsy and the Trust admitted liability in 2019. After a nine-day trial on damages, Ritchie J awarded a lump sum of about £6.87m plus care periodical payments of nearly £395,000 a year.

Outcome

Claimant succeeded

Sum stated in judgment

£6,866,615

Claim type

Cerebral Palsy

Decided

Damages assessed at trial

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§ WHAT HAPPENED

The facts, in brief.

Defendant: Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust · this trust’s claims data

Injury: Hypoxic-ischaemic brain injury from an unread pathological CTG during labour in February 2015, causing severe spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy, severe visual impairment, daily seizures and profound learning disability

Specialty: Obstetrics · England

§ WHAT THE COURT SAID

In the judgment’s own words.

“For the reasons set out above I make the award set out below in the table. I consider that the care and case management should be paid by way of a periodical payments order”

The money

Total lump sum award £6,866,615 gross of interim payments (net £4,166,615 after £2,700,000 interims), including £390,000 for pain, suffering and loss of amenity, plus a periodical payments order of £394,940 pa for care and case management indexed to ASHE 6115 80th centile (summary table at [205]).

§ WHY IT MATTERS

What this case shows.

Where liability is admitted but the parties are far apart on the cost of care, housing and equipment, the court will hold a full quantum trial and decide each head of loss. This judgment is a rare published breakdown of a complete cerebral palsy award.

About cerebral palsy claims →

§ MORE CEREBRAL PALSY JUDGMENTS

Claimant succeeded

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

[2026] UKSC 5·2026·Appeal decision

A child left profoundly disabled by negligence at birth was refused 'lost years' damages for earnings she would have made in the years her injury cut from her life, because a 1982 Court of Appeal case barred such awards to young children. The Supreme Court (Lady Rose dissenting) overruled that rule and sent the case back for the lost-years loss to be assessed.

Claimants injured as young children whose life expectancy has been shortened can now claim for earnings in the 'lost years', on the same principles as adults. This can add substantially to catastrophic injury awards.

Claim failed

LMN (a protected party, by his mother and litigation friend PQR) v Swansea Bay University Health Board

[2025] EWHC 3402 (KB)·2025·Liability decided at trial

The claimant alleged the registrar at the Princess of Wales Hospital, Bridgend, delayed delivery after a pathological CTG in a labour complicated by pre-eclampsia and an impacted fetal head. The judge found the plan of fetal blood sampling, attempted forceps and then caesarean met the standards of the day and dismissed the claim.

A poor outcome after a difficult delivery is not enough; the claimant must show specific decisions fell below acceptable practice at the time and that earlier action would have avoided the injury. The material contribution argument does not help if no negligent cause of delay is proved.

Settlement approved£5.75M

AXA (a child, by her father and litigation friend MXA) v Airedale NHS Foundation Trust

[2024] EWHC 2499 (KB)·2024·Settlement approved by the court

A child born in April 2019 after an induced labour suffered fetal bradycardia and a brain injury; the Trust admitted the clinical failures by letter in April 2021. The court approved a settlement of a £5.75m lump sum plus lifelong index-linked periodical payments, worth about £16.7m in total.

Serious cerebral palsy claims are usually settled as a lump sum plus annual periodical payments for care, so the headline total depends on how long the child lives. Before approving a deal for a child the judge checks it sits within the range a court would have awarded.

All cerebral palsy judgments →

Contains information licensed under the Open Justice - Licence v2.0. Judgments from Find Case Law, The National Archives. Summaries are ours; amounts only where printed in the judgment.

This guide is general information about the law in England and Wales, not legal advice about your case. ClaimGavel is run by Costart Projects Ltd on behalf of Tomlin & Partners, a specialist medical negligence firm regulated by the SRA. The free assessment on this page is an AI overview to show you roughly where you stand; a solicitor confirms the position in a free, no-obligation conversation.