A SCAFFOLDER who was paralysed when he was mown down following a gangland shooting has won a battle in his £8 million legal fight to secure compensation from his attacker.
John Rennie, 33, suffered brain injuries after Pauline Morrison, 30, deliberately smashed her car into him after a shooting in the east end of Glasgow.
Morrison drove her car on the wrong side of the road and hit Rennie, leaving him only able to blink and move one thumb. Mr Rennie requires 24 hour care for the rest of his life and his relatives started legal action against Morrison.
They have also sued Esure, the firm that insured Morrison, originally of Glasgow.
Morrison was convicted of striking Rennie to his permanent disfigurement and impairment and to the danger of his life. She was jailed for nine years at the High Court in Glasgow in August 2011.
Rennie's aunt and guardian Frances McLaughlin, 51, has lodged the £8 million compensation claim.
On Friday, in a written judgement issued at the Court of Session in Edinburgh, Lord Jones ruled against an attempt made by lawyers acting for Esure to have the case thrown out of court. The insurance firm's legal team argued that Mr Rennie had provoked Morrison into attacking him.
But Lord Jones ruled that there was no evidence to prove that Morrison had been provoked and that she had committed an illegal act.
The judge has now ordered a hearing to take place in which the amount of compensation that Mr Rennie is entitled to will be decided.
Lord Jones wrote: "I have held that each of the second defender's cases on contributory negligence and provocation is bound to fail and I have allowed parties a proof of their averments restricted to the issue of quantum of damages."
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