Jon Blake was driving home late on December 1, 1986, after the final
day's filming of
The Lighthorsemen - Blutiger Sturm (1987) when
his station wagon, swerving to avoid a car stopped on the wrong side of
the road with its lights off, struck another vehicle. He sustained
permanent brain damage and existed in a locked-in state until his
death.
Blake's mother (as his legal guardian) sued the man whose car was
stopped on the wrong side of the road on Blake's behalf. On December 5,
1995, the New South Wales Supreme Court ruled that Blake should be
compensated for the loss of potential earnings as a star in the United
States. After taking evidence from actors, directors, and film critics
who indicated his career could have been as big as
Mel Gibson's, the court awarded him
$32 million in damages. This was later reduced to $7 million after the
defence appealed.
Blake was cared for by his mother Mascot and a team of nurses at his
mother's home in Sydney until her death in 2007. Blake's son Dustin
then took over as his primary caregiver. They relocated to a house on
the New South Wales Central Coast in the months before Blake's death.
