Woman injured after coffee shop slip
A customer sustained serious personal injuries in a public liability accident at a local shopping centre.
The woman had been looking around taking note of possible gifts for friends and family for three hours and decided to get something to eat.
She went to the shopping centre's food hall and ordered a coffee and a Danish pastry then looked around for a free table.
As she was walking towards an empty space located at the back of the food hall she slipped on a wet patch which was not marked clearly with a caution sign. As she fell onto the floor's hard surface the coffee, which was freshly brewed and very hot landed all over her bare arm.
Simultaneous shooting pain
She immediately felt the scolding liquid penetrate her skin and simultaneously felt an agonising pain shoot through her hip area.
There was a crowd standing around her and a young man tried to help her get back onto her feet however the pain was too much for her so the manager of the food hall called an ambulance which arrived within half an hour.
The woman was treated for her burn injuries, which fortunately were only minor, and was told that she had definitely bruised her hip bone but would be sent for an X-ray to rule out a broken bone. The scan did in fact reveal that she had sustained a fracture to her hip but that it wouldn't require surgery and risk of permanent disability was not likely.
However, the young woman was told that she would have to take at least a month off work as a PE teacher to recover from her personal injuries.
Public liability compensation
A friend advised that she should make a public liability compensation claim against the shopping centre. She had heard about the no win no fee agreement and assured her injured friend that she would not have to pay any fees if she lost her claim and said that she had also heard of a company called a legal firm.
The woman chose to contact a legal firm, which advised her on making a no win no fee compensation claim, which she went ahead with, through the representation of injury lawyers and personal injury specialists.
However, the shopping centre where the accident took place was not accepting full public liability for the woman's personal injuries and the case thus needed to be taken further.
The court heard how this particular shopping centre had been faced with other charges of health and safety neglect, including a serious incident involving an unsafe escalator.
The personal injury lawyer who was appointed to the case fought to get the injured woman the maximum compensation on a no win no fee basis.
In the end the evidence was so clearly against the shopping centre that the judge ruled they should pay the woman a total of £10,500 in compensation, for both general and special damages. The woman received the full amount of compensation after her successful legal battle.
Updated on 24/09/2009