Man awarded £1.8m damages after ceiling falls on head in rented house

The man, aged in his 40s, was "a fit, active, interested and delightful father" before he was struck on the head by a falling breeze block.

But he has since "become a dishevelled, sad, overweight figure" whose professional and personal lives have been devastated.

Barrister, Simon Browne QC, said he was in the living room of the family home near Wolverhampton when disaster struck in 2013.

"The ceiling fell on him due to a leak which had been building up for some time," he told London's High Court.

He went to hospital suffering from nausea and a "watery, gushing sound in one ear", but his injuries were at first not considered serious.

However, in the years since, his condition has "deteriorated dramatically" and he is now stricken by vertigo and intrusive tinnitus, said the barrister.

His memory is impaired, he is frequently tired and irritable and he "has put on an enormous amount of weight", the court heard.

Lawyers on the man's behalf sued the letting agents through whom the family home was rented.

There was a dispute over whether he had suffered actual brain damage and the agents' insurers hotly disputed the value of his claim.

But Mr Browne said they had now agreed to pay him £1,848,000 in final settlement of his damages claim.

Mr Justice Martin Spencer said: "The accident occurred when part of the ceiling collapsed on him. A breeze block struck him on the head."

The case had proved "challenging" due to the apparent mismatch between his relatively minor physical injuries and their catastrophic consequences.

But the judge added: "The deterioration he suffered has never been gainsaid."

Approving the settlement, he said: "I wish to pay full tribute to the man's father for all that he has done for his son.

"No one could have done more than he has done. On behalf of his son, I offer sincere gratitude."