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Angela’s trip claim settles for £20,000 (Belfast)

Angela was walking from her home when she tripped over a broken curb stone on her street. She fell to the ground with such a forceful impact that she fractured her humerus, the upper arm bone.

Although she sustained an injury, Angela was reluctant to claim following her accident and even quipped that her ego was more damaged than her arm. Despite her good humoured nature, the injury was serious enough to require surgery. Unfortunately, Angela’s initial unwillingness to pursue compensation meant that photographs of her injury and the damaged curb stone were not taken shortly after the incident occurred.

Angela was almost out of time

Following a period that extended beyond 2 years and having time to reflect on what had happened to her, Angela began to reconsider her position on claiming for her injury. She contacted Paschal O’Hare Solicitors to enquire about claiming, although at this stage she believed that it was probably too late.

Injured parties have a period of 3 years from an accident to claim

Despite the limitation period fast approaching, Angela still had time to begin the claims process. Catherine Logue of our firm had her new client examined by one of our consultant Orthopaedic Surgeons and legal proceedings were issued against the Department of Infrastructure who is responsible for the maintenance of public footpaths.

Liability was firmly denied

The defendant in the case robustly denied liability, stating that they had a reasonable system of inspection in place and they had no record of a damaged curb stone at the time of Angela’s accident. Unfortunately, due to the lack of photographic evidence obtained at the time, this was challenging for us to dispute on behalf of our client despite the footpath going unfixed years after the accident.

Catherine continued with her investigation and delved deeper into Angela’s past medical records. Upon the revelation of new information buried within the comprehensive records, Catherine was confident in her ability to win the case and she subsequently informed the Department of Infrastructure of our intention to proceed to court.

Court proceedings were issued

At this stage, the defendant approached us with the view to negotiate a settlement. Catherine entered talks with them and settled the matter for the sum of £20,000 to Angela’s delight. This case is an example of why it is important to gather evidence as soon as possible following an accident. Learn more about this here.


If you were injured following a trip like Angela, learn more about our services or contact us for a free no obligation discussion on how we can help you too.

Here’s what the NHS says about Angela’s injury

Broken Arm

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