The Tribune

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS

Tribune Staff Reporter

lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

THE government will appeal to reduce the nearly $942,000 awarded to a man paralysed by a police bullet unless he agrees to have his National Insurance benefits deducted, Attorney General Wayne Munroe said yesterday.

Mr Munroe said failing to deduct state benefits from Thorne Clarke’s damages was an error of law.

Mr Clarke, 32, was awarded $941,893.91 in a judgment by Assistant Registrar Jonathan Deal dated September 21, more than ten years after he was shot by police near Wilson Tract on February 13, 2016. He was 22 when the bullet left him permanently paralysed from the chest down, and recently said he does not believe the award will cover a lifetime of medical care.

But Mr Munroe said the award will be appealed. “I know that my office is set to appeal for the reduction if they don’t agree, because the national insurance benefits are supposed to be deducted from any award you get,” he said.

He said disability benefits, unemployment benefits and other state payments meant to compensate for a particular loss should be subtracted from any award covering the same loss.

“So if the court is awarding you for being disabled, any disability benefits you get should be deducted,” Mr Munroe said.

He said the case had already produced a court order and an assessment, but his office believed the assessment was wrong.

“There’s an order of the court. There’s an assessment. As I viewed the file, there’s an opinion that the failure to deduct those things is wrong in law, and so the question is, how do you correct that error in law?” he said.

He said Mr Clarke had not agreed to a settlement.

Mr Clarke sued the Commissioner of Police and the Attorney General in 2018. Judgment was entered against them in 2019 after they failed to file a defence, but damages were not assessed until seven years later. Mr Clarke had sought $2.064m, while the defendants proposed about $539,000.

He had already received an $80,000 interim payment, granted after he developed a severe pressure ulcer for which surgery was recommended. That leaves $861,893.91 outstanding before interest and costs. He has said the operation has not yet been scheduled, although he is making arrangements for it.

Mr Munroe previously said the government should settle claims where it is liable rather than run up legal costs, and that his office was assessing whether to appeal any part of the award.

Mr Clarke has told The Tribune that, while grateful, he does not believe the award will cover a lifetime of medical care, wheelchairs, other equipment and accessible transport. He said it would have gone further had his case been resolved sooner.

He regularly needs diapers, catheters and pressure-relief cushions, some of which must be replaced periodically. He also needs an accessible vehicle and further changes to his home.

The shooting has also strained his family’s finances. His mother left work to care for him in the early years and eventually closed her business. His father kept working after retirement to help cover household bills.

Mr Clarke has said he has never received an apology or been given the names of the officers involved. Police said he tried to drive at an officer, who opened fire fearing he would be struck. Mr Clarke denied this. Those accounts were never tested at trial because judgment was entered in default of defence, and later proceedings dealt only with damages.

He said he hopes his case will bring greater urgency to resolving claims involving life-changing injuries and to improving accessibility for people with disabilities.