Brief facts

It was just another day for Maria, a 58-year-old, Merrylands resident, as she strolled down to her local Halal butcher shop, when disaster struck. Unbeknown to Maria, contractors were engaged by the local Council to perform works on a footpath outside the butcher shop she would frequent. As part of these works, the contractors installed walk boards on top of the footpath to cover an opening. These walk boards were not flush with the footpath, were not adequately fastened, did not have a sufficient amount of asphalt placed around their edges to create a more even and gradual slope from the footpath nor did they have Astro-turf/carpet placed over them. Thus, creating a trip hazard for anyone walking over them. There were no warning signs and the trip hazard was not highlighted with yellow paint.

As Maria approached the walk boards and proceeded to walk over them, she tripped over an uneven edge of the walk boards, fell and suffered a serious fracture to her shoulder.

Although an early retiree, prior to her injury, Maria was an active elderly woman who took pride in her home, garden and enjoyed cooking and looking after her children. She, also, helped her mildly autistic son, Shane, with domestic chores around the house. After her accident, Maria could no longer take care of her house, cook or help Shane, around their home without experiencing severe pain in her lower back and her left shoulder.

How we helped Maria

When Maria approached us, we discovered that the contractor engaged by the local Council to do the footpath works could have taken certain steps to make the area where Maria’s injury occurred much safer than the state it was in at the time of her injurious fall. We successfully obtained the necessary engineering evidence and claimed compensation for all of Maria’s injuries, including past and future treatment costs and the costs of commercial assistance around her home. In addition,  we obtained evidence from a psychiatrist to ensure that Maria was compensated for the emotional and psychological toll the incident and her injuries had on her and resulted in an aggravation of her pre-existing psychological condition.

Take-away message

Public liability claims arise out of injuries sustained on commercial or residential premises, such as supermarkets, shopping centres, common property of strata complexes, as a well as at schools and parks as a result of sporting or recreational activities, boating accidents, animal attacks and many other circumstances. Other accidents may arise out of faulty or defective products. Simply put, if you are injured because of another person’s failure or omission to act in a particular way or take some sort of action that would have prevented the injury or minimised the extent of it, you may have a case for compensation. With thorough preparation of your public liability claim, we will help you recover the compensation that you truly deserve.

*the facts and names have been slightly altered to preserve privacy and confidentiality.

*Disclaimer: This is intended as general information only and not to be construed as legal advice. The above information is subject to changes over time. You should always seek professional advice before taking any course of action.*