£86,000 for injured tripper following three day trial

Ms T suffered an unfortunate injury when she tripped on a defective pavement suffering injury to her elbow.

A claim was submitted to the local council responsible for the pavement who admitted liability.

Initially her elbow injury appeared to recover and it was the view of the upper limb expert witness that she would eventually make a good recovery. She also suffered psychological injuries and so a report from a psychologist expert witness was obtained also.

However, as time passed her arm symptoms did not improve and in fact deteriorated, resulting in the need for surgery.  During the surgery the surgeon found damage to the elbow cartilage as well as arthritis around the elbow.

As Ms T was only in her late 30s at that time, and the elbow was her left, non-dominant, one, the finding of arthritic changes and damaged cartilage was very unusual and her upper limb expert witness concluded that, unbeknown at the time, the fall must have damaged the cartilage resulting in the elbow being unstable, resulting in arthritic changes as time passed.

Unfortunately, this meant she was likely to face long-term problems with the elbow.

The Council’s solicitors would not accept this theory and their upper limb expert reported that her elbow arthritis would have occurred anyway i.e. even if the accident had never happened.  Also, the Council’s psychological expert concluded that her mental health issues since the accident were coincidental and unrelated, being due to a change of medication around the same time.

Despite several attempts at negotiations the Council’s solicitors would not budge beyond a relatively low offer of £15,000, which did not adequately reflect Ms T’s losses.

Although trials are considered somewhat of a “last resort”, and the vast majority of cases conclude via settlement, the Council’s refusal to make a reasonable offer, based on the theory of her injuries being coincidental and unrelated, resulted in Aston Knight Solicitors having to advise the client to proceed to trial.

An experienced barrister was instructed and following a hotly contested three day trial, in which the Court heard evidence from both parties’ upper limb and psychological experts, the Court found in favour of Ms T.

As Ms T had achieved much more than she had offered to settle for she also received an uplift in her compensation award, resulting in a total of over £86,000 being far more than the Council’s maximum offer of £15,000.

Ms Emma Pearce, Aston Knight Solicitors’ Business Development Manager commented:

“Many defendants rely upon expert witnesses known to be harsh, who tend to only work for defendants, in the hope of pressuring injured people into a smaller settlement rather than run the risk of losing at trial.  We were pleased to support this client in standing up against such tactics and securing this excellent result at trial.” 

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