Our personal injury solicitors helped a man claim a compensation settlement against the council for an injury which caused him to lose a huge job opportunity.
Jack Burrows* was walking along a residential street on his way to a business meeting when he stepped onto a loose kerbstone. The kerbstone moved under his weight and caused Jack to lose his balance and fall. By the evening, Jack’s ankle was very painful and swollen but he still had to make a painful drive home the next day.
A week later, Jack went to the hospital A&E and his x-ray revealed that he had fractured his ankle. After having surgery for this, he then had to wear a cast on his leg for 10 weeks.
How The Accident Affected Jack
Because of his cast, and to help him properly recover from his injury, Jack needed crutches to get about. He had to live with his sister for a week during his recovery because his own flat didn’t have a lift for ease of access.
Jack’s adult son also cared for him, helping him with cooking, cleaning and walking the dog.
During his recovery, Jack began experiencing back pain while using crutches. This was made a lot worse after he suffered another two falls while using the crutches in his home.
Jack was working as a self-employed estate agent at the time of the accident, though he was trying to break back into a TV and film career.
Before his accident, Jack accepted a job offer to work as a commercial director for a film company based in Dubai. Because of the surgery, Jack couldn’t fly out for the start date of his job and the film company then withdrew their job offer. Jack was devastated, he’d worked so hard for his chance at a dream job, and now it was gone.
After a few months of recovery, Jack returned to work as an estate agent on a casual basis, increasing his hours over time. But he was still making less money than usual.
How We Helped
Jack got in touch with us about making a claim for his injuries. Serious injury solicitor, Katie Lowe, listened to Jack’s story and believed he could make a compensation claim. Katie got to work right away investigating what happened to Jack, and putting together a report.
The local council denied being responsible for the loose and protruding kerbstone that caused Jack’s fall. Because of this, Katie and the team made sure that Jack’s case against the council was robust as possible.
We got witness statements supporting the truth about the defective kerbstone to make a stronger case against the council. We also got a report from a lower limb orthopaedic consultant as well as from a spinal expert to comment on the severity of Jack’s ankle and back injuries.
We used our expert evidence and evidence of Jack’s loss in the case we presented to the council. Despite the council denying responsibility for Jack’s fall, Katie’s team put together enough evidence that the council agreed to negotiate a settlement anyway.
The Settlement
We secured Jack a claim settlement of £95,000, which covered the cost of his medical treatment and loss of earnings.
The settlement amount also had to be enough to cover for Jack’s uncertain future employment and the impact on his career prospects within his current job. This meant taking into account other factors such as COVID-19 and the owner of the film company passing away.
Working with Jack, there was no way to make up for the loss of his once-in-a-lifetime job opportunity. But the compensation we were able to get him made a huge difference in his life, helping him to regain his independence and back on his feet.
“It was important for Jack that his compensation reflected all the ways his injury impacted his life. This is something we carefully consider when assessing the compensation amount and I’m proud of our team for getting Jack the compensation he deserved.” – Katie Lowe, solicitor.
If you’ve suffered a fall on a poorly maintained pavement, we may be able to help you claim compensation for your injuries too. See our Claims Against the Council page to learn more.
*Not the client’s real name.
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