A young man who became a quadriplegic following a traffic accident 13 years ago was awarded €1.25 million in damages yesterday.

Alan Caruana, now 30, was riding pillion on a Honda CBR motorbike driven by Daniel Bonnici, 33, on the morning of August 23, 1998. Driving along Notabile Road, Attard, towards Rabat, Mr Bonnici lost control of the machine and crashed into an electricity pole and a tree.

As a result of his injuries, Mr Caruana was totally incapacitated by quadriplegia, which is a paralysis of all the limbs.

In a previous judgment, Mr Bonnici was declared to have been solely responsible for the accident. The First Hall of the Civil Court, presided over by Mr Justice Giannino Caruana Demajo, yesterday ruled on compensation.

The judge said that, prior to the accident, Mr Caruana, then 19, his brother and his mother had planned to set up a commercial enterprise to take over the restaurant business of their father, who was retiring due to ill-health. However, the plan could not go ahead because Mr Caruana suffered a 100 per cent permanent disability as a result of the accident and his mother had to stop working to look after him.

The projected income from the planned business was about €14,000 per annum for each of the three family members. This figure was reasonable and quite conservative, the court noted.

Mr Justice Caruana Demajo calculated that Mr Caruana would have gone on to earn some €22,000 a year, assuming an increase in business. His mother had to look after him though and although she did not completely lose the faculty to work again, her earnings would be more like €8,000.

Taking into consideration their ages, the judge multiplied his earnings by 40 years and hers by 15.

Mr Justice Caruana Demajo ruled that, due to Mr Caruana’s young age at the time of the accident, Mr Bonnici was to award him €1,250,000 damages. However, €55,905, which had already been paid to Mr Caruana by Mr Bonnici’s insurers were to be deducted.