A woman badly injured when she was hit by a runaway concrete mixer is still fighting for compensation more than six years after the horrific accident.

Elizabeth Kelly was visiting from New York as artist-in-residence at Masterworks when the mixer became detached from a tow-truck and rammed into her boyfriend’s livery cycle in October 2000.

Ms Kelly, a passenger on the cycle, suffered extensive leg injuries. She told The Royal Gazette earlier this month that she has been left permanently disabled, and has needed 13 reconstructive surgeries, landing her with a $600,000-plus medical bill.

“I’m really, really struggling,” she said, claiming that at that point in time she had got no compensation in respect of the accident.

However, she spoke of her hope that a Supreme Court hearing held earlier this week would result in a payout.

That hope was partially fulfilled in that the insurers of the truck, Colonial, made what the company’s lawyer described as a “significant” ex-gratia payment to Ms Kelly.

However, while Ms Kelly has been unavailable for comment since the hearing, her lawyer revealed afterwards that she will continue to fight for tens of thousands of dollars more.

During the court hearing John Cooper, lawyer for Colonial, successfully sought a declaratory order from Puisne Judge Geoffrey Bell that the truck was not being driven by a permitted person, and the insurance policy was ineffective in relation to the accident.

Mr. Cooper said this was because the policy was still in the name of a previous owner of the truck, who had died nine months before.

The truck, he said, should not have been being used by the driver at the time of the accident, Mark Cofield Robinson, or its passenger Rahja Kumar Gilbert, who operated the trucking company.

During the hearing, Mr. Cooper said Colonial would make an ex-gratia payment to Ms Kelly as part of what he described as “a negotiated financial settlement,” plus a contribution to the legal costs of Mr. Gilbert and Mr. Robinson.

He gave no details on the background to the payment in court, and declined to discuss it afterwards or give figures, although he described the sum going to Ms Kelly as “significant.”

Ms Kelly was not present at the hearing, and her lawyer John Riihiluoma also declined to disclose details of the Colonial payout. However, he confirmed it did not represent the full amount she hopes to recover in respect of the accident. Mr. Riihiluoma explained his client now plans to pursue compensation through two legal avenues. Firstly, he said, she will lodge a claim with the Motor Insurers’ Fund.

It was set up in 1990 at the initiative of local insurance companies who agreed with the Bermuda Government to establish a method of compensation for people injured by uninsured drivers or untraced drivers in “hit and run” cases.

All drivers who buy motor insurance in Bermuda pay a surcharge of $5 per bike and $10 per car. However, the maximum payout the fund can make is $250,000, and Mr. Riihiluoma said this was “less than Ms Kelly is hoping for by way of total compensation.”

She has previously won a summary judgment against Mr. Robinson and Mr. Gilbert, finding them liable for the accident. Mr. Riihiluoma confirmed after the hearing that Ms Kelly will continue to pursue them for compensation. Ms Kelly has not returned calls for comment since the court case, although she left a telephone message saying she did not wish to speak about it at this time. Mr. Gilbert’s lawyer Edward King declined to comment on the case and Mr. Robinson did not return a call.