Injury on broken paving slabs - £40,000 compensation

Ms A was walking along the pavement when her foot caught in a broken paving slab. She fell and suffered a fracture of her right femur. Ms A was a senior staff nurse and as a result of the accident was unable to work for five months. On her return to full time work, she was unable to undertake additional agency work and found herself in a disadvantaged position in light of a potential promotion. In addition, she was at significant additional risk of developing further complications in later life.

Liability was initially denied and there was a dispute as to who actually owned the area where Ms A fell. This took some time to establish, and even when it was, the owner of the area denied liability despite numerous witnesses confirming that the paving slab had been in a serious state of disrepair for many months prior to the accident.

In the circumstances we started court proceedings on behalf of the claimant and a trial date was fixed. A short while before that trial date the claimant put forward an offer to settle and this was accepted by the defendants. The personal injury claim finally settled for £40,000.

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