Sheffield personal injury practice Irwin Mitchell has won a £925,000 damages pay-out for a man paralysed after a routine ear operation. Clive Hepworth was admitted to Huddersfield's Nuffield Hospital in 1979, but lost feeling in his legs after an operation to clear a recurring infection in his left ear. An initial case in 1992 established that a liability case could be heard outside the normal three-year limitation period, and the judgement brings to an end an eight-year legal battle.