The Plaintiff was a 90 year old Victorian grandmother who had come to Sydney to visit her daughter. The Plaintiff’s daughter had held a residential tenancy agreement from about 2012.
In May 2015 the owners of the house engaged builders to install a roof and piping which was to drain overflow water from the gutters into the garden. The pipe was not attached to the wall of the house and was allowed to hang freely from the roof.
Since its installation the Plaintiff’s daughter had complained to the owners and real-estate agents to have the dangerous piping removed. Nothing was done in this regard.
On 23 September 2015 the Plaintiff exited the property to enter the back yard and in doing so tripped on the loose pipe falling to the ground and breaking her hip.
The Plaintiff required a total hip replace, a long stay within the rehabilitation hospital and large amount of physiotherapy to bring her back to the same freedoms which she had before.
Even though she was able to walk again the Plaintiff was no longer able to engage in any domestic chores, or gardening. Due to her living in a different state to the rest of her family she was unable to rely upon them to assist her with the domestic chores and had to engage the services of a paid cleaner and gardener. This came at considerable expense to the Plaintiff.
Proceedings were commenced with the District Court of New South Wales in November 2016. Throughout her investigations Richele was able to undercover a number of other parties, including the real estate agent and the builder, who were also liability for the Plaintiff’s injuries these parties were joined to the claim.
After giving the Defendants sufficient time to build their case the matter was set down for hearing in August 2018.In an effort to resolve the proceedings in a timely fashion and without going to the expense of a complete hearing, the Plaintiff’s solicitor called an informal settlement conference in an attempt to settle the proceedings.
Following a lengthy discussion, the matter was ultimately settled for $180,000.00 to which the Plaintiff was very grateful to receive.
Litigation is a tricky area and if you do not have the right representation you may be missing out on opportunities to maximise your compensation claim. At Gerard Malouf and Partners we specialise compensation lawyers, it is all we do, so you can be sure that you are getting the best possible representation following your personal injury.
