A Personal Injury Claim Case Study - Client Situation
Tracey Richardson tripped over an indent and stone in a car park when returning to her car after work. She fell and landed on her wrist and suffered injuries to her left wrist and left foot.
She was taken to hospital by ambulance, where she was found to have sustained a fracture to her left wrist and a Lisfranc fracture to her left foot.
She couldn’t bear weight on her foot for 6 weeks following the accident and a plate and screws had to be fitted to fix the fractures. She had to undergo several sessions of physiotherapy, but was left with some lingering symptoms, such as discomfort in her foot when doing any prolonged standing or long distance walking.
Tracey has also been left with scarring at the site of her operation and the metal implants had to remain in place. In addition, she suffered psychological symptoms as a result of the accident, including signs of obsessive compulsive disorder and depression.
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Tracey felt the accident was due to the negligence of the car park operator. She got in touch with our Personal Injury Solicitors for a free consultation and legal advice. Personal Injury Lawyer Gulderen Salih, who deals with Public Liability Claims agreed to take on her case on a No Win, No Fee basis.
Gulderen arranged for Tracey to be independently assessed by a consultant trauma and orthopaedic surgeon, a consultant orthopaedic and hand surgeon and a consultant psychiatrist. These experts compiled medical reports outlining her condition and prognosis.
Among the findings were that her wrist injury had accelerated the symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome by about 5 years.
It was also found that the position of her fracture meant she had a chance of developing osteoarthritis 10 years earlier than if the accident hadn’t taken place.
The psychologist’s report concluded that the main trigger for her depression was her inability to socialise or leave her flat for 6 weeks following the accident.
It also stated that her obsessive compulsive disorder was triggered by the need for an external carer over a 5-week period, which meant she had to leave the door to her flat open. She would obsessively check there were no intruders in her house for some time following the trip and fall accident.
Gulderen approached the company responsible for maintaining the car park with the details of our claim and how much compensation we believed she was entitled to.
Our valuation included the cost of care and assistance, medication, treatment costs, travel, parking and various other expenses she had racked up as a result of her injury. Our estimate also included the likely cost of her future treatment costs, based on the conclusions in the various medical reports we arranged.
In addition, we considered the fact that Tracey’s psychological symptoms might affect her future career prospects. Although she remained in the job that she was carrying out at the time of the accident for some time, she suffered a profound loss of confidence and moved to another job, this time at a lower grade and lower salary.
Gulderen argued that the psychological consequences of her accident had put her at a disadvantage on the open labour market. Thankfully, the defendant admitted liability (fault), which meant the case could be settled out of Court.
The Outcome
Following Gulderen’s negotiations with the car park operator, we secured a compensation settlement of £30,000 for Tracey.
This will let her access much of the treatment she needs, including further cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) that was recommended by the psychologist we brought in to assess her.
It’s hoped that with CBT, Tracey will fully recover from her psychological symptoms.
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