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In this matter we acted for a 72 year old woman who slip and fall on a metal plate in front of the freezers in a major supermarket near Nowra and suffered fractured her hip and wrist

In this matter we acted for a 72 year old woman who slip and fall on a metal plate in front of the freezers in a major supermarket  near Nowra and suffered fractured her hip and wrist.

As usual, we carried out our independent forensic investigations with respect to the issues of liability (obtained photos from client and witness statement) as well as requesting medical records from our client’s family doctors.

After obtaining instructions from our client and collating the medical evidence in the case, we commenced proceedings in District Court of New South Wales. The instructions received from our client showed the case to be of a technical nature. Accordingly we briefed a barrister who had experience in arguing matters of similar nature.

The Defendant did not admit its liability and argued that the lady had been not sufficiently careful and caused her own fall. The Defendant also argued that that the risk of injury from the metal plate was not reasonably foreseeable and that the supermarket should not be held liable for the fall. We retained an engineer to provide his opinion about the risk associated with a metal plate in the immediate vicinity of the freezers and its likelihood to become wet and slippery due to condensation.. Our expert provided us with a comprehensive report which

We also arranged for our client to undergo a clinical examination with an orthopedic specialist and sought his view on what the future held for our client with respect to her injury. The medical evidence obtained both by our experts as well as the treating doctors all assisted in strengthening our client’s case.

The Defendant requested to have our client examined by one of their doctors who provided a medical report. The opinion contained in the report produced by the Defendant’s medical expert conflicted with the findings of our medical expert with respect to future need for treatment as well as past and future ability to attend to home chores and tasks.

Prior to having the matter heard by a Judge of the District Court, we arranged a conference with the Defendant’s solicitor in a final attempt to resolve the claim without the need to incur the cost of a hearing. At conference we were able to persuade the Defendant’s solicitors that our client’s position was both genuine and realistic. We then secured a settlement for over a hundred thousand dollars.

Our client was happy to have received a fair compensation amount without having to go through the difficulties posed by a hearing.

About Us
Gerard Malouf & Partners have provided friendly, experienced legal advice to communities across Australia for over 35 years. Our Personal Injury Lawyers have taken on ten’s of thousands of cases and we are proud to have won billions of dollars for our clients.
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Meet the diverse and dynamic team of compensation lawyers and supporting staff that have made this all happen below. Our multi-lingual team can discuss your claims in Arabic, Assyrian, Turkish, Greek, Italian, French, Serbian, Croatian, Armenian, Mandarin, Hindi, Punjabi or Malayalam.
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Meet the diverse and dynamic team of compensation lawyers and supporting staff that have made this all happen below. Our multi-lingual team can discuss your claims in Arabic, Assyrian, Turkish, Greek, Italian, French, Serbian, Croatian, Armenian, Mandarin, Hindi, Punjabi or Malayalam.

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