We acted for a client who was injured in June 2009 when she missed an obscured step-down into the poker machine room at a hotel and as a result tripped and fell sustaining serious injuries.
The step-down within the poker machine area of the hotel was simply not visible to persons walking down the steps as our client was. The front entrance of the poker machine room was obscured by uniform carpeting and poor lighting. There was no warning of the presence of the step-down. As a result our client missed the obscured step-down into the poker machine room and as a result tripped and fell sustaining injuries including an undisplaced fracture of the left fibula, an undisplaced fracture of the base of the right fifth metatarsal, bilateral foot and ankle pain, swelling of the left knee, tenderness of the left hip joint, general bruising and abrasions.
Our client instructed us to act on her behalf in about November 2009. We conducted preliminary investigations including obtaining witness statements and an expert report on liability from an engineer. Legal proceedings were filed against the owner/occupier of the hotel for negligence.
Liability was admitted by the owner/occupier of the hotel, however they made an allegation of contributory negligence against our client on the basis that our client failed to keep any proper lookout, she failed to take care of her own safety; she failed to watch where she was placing her feet and she failed to avoid the alleged danger.
Contributory negligence was disputed by us on behalf of our client, however we did advise our client that contributory negligence is likely to be nominal, perhaps 5-10% and probably in the order of about 25%.
The parties participated in an Informal Settlement Conference. After extensive settlement discussions, the claim settled for $195,000.00 inclusive of legal costs. The settlement covered our client’s damages including general damages for pain and suffering, past and future medical expenses and past and future domestic care. There was no claim for economic loss as our client was not working at the time of the accident.
We achieved an excellent result for our client and she was happy with the result and our professional expert advice and service.
We are highly specialised and focused accident compensation lawyers with our law firm being small enough to care intimately for our clients, but large enough to have solid financial, medical and expert resources our clients need to match the big insurers we file everyday.
