PERSONAL injury awards were criticised for remaining in the dark ages in the case of Chan Pui-ki, 18, who suffered severe head and brain injuries when hit by a negligently driven KMB bus in 1989.
Her parents accepted an out-of-court settlement from the bus company's insurers in January this year after they decided litigation had been too lengthy and straining.
Her injuries mean she is unlikely ever to work, has been spurned by friends and contemplated suicide.
About eight years after the accident, the High Court awarded a total of $6.4 million. The Court of Appeal subsequently cut it to $3.2 million, after which the family and insurers agreed to settle.
It took six years of pain, poverty and 'horrific living conditions' before Ng Kwok-wing, 48, won Hong Kong's highest industrial accident award of $15 million.
In October 17, 1990, two iron bars weighing 328 kilograms fell on him at work and crushed his spine, leaving him wheelchair-bound. His injuries forced him to leave his wife and child in their Sha Tin flat for a government-subsidised home.
His former employers, the Kei Yip Engineering Company, went into liquidation.
