Customer suffers injury after fall in a shop in Sevenoaks

This personal injury claim involved Mrs C, who was visiting a plant nursery in with her husband, son and daughter-in-law in Sevenoaks, Kent.

During her visit, Mrs C was walking near the entrance to the premises when she saw another customer walking towards her with a trolley. In order to step aside for the oncoming customer to pass by, Mrs C stepped to her right however did not see a long wooden plank beside her, joining two posts. Mrs C tripped and suffered a heavy landing, hitting her head on the trolley and landing hard on her right side, causing an injury to her chest. Mrs C also suffered various cuts to her face, arms and legs and was in immediate pain from the impact.

Mrs C instructed Thomson Snell & Passmore who sent the letter of claim to the defendant’s. It was Mrs C’s case that the plank had been positioned negligently in an area which posed a natural trip hazard to customers.

The defendant’s responded by stating that they did not consider the defendant’s to be solely responsible for the accident, attributing half of the liability to Mrs C as contributory negligence. The defendant put forward an offer on these terms; however this was rejected.

Meanwhile, Mrs C was receiving treatment for trochanteric bursitis, a pain syndrome which causes pain in a person’s upper thigh. Mrs C’s GP felt that this pain was a direct consequence of Mrs C’s fall.

The team instructed an expert Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon Mr Ellis, who recommended that Mrs C undergo an MRI scan. The results of this scan led to Mr Ellis becoming more concerned about Mrs C’s ongoing hip symptoms. A second medical report was received and served on the defendant.

Using the medical report, the team were able to negotiate and successfully secure a settlement of the claim for £24,000 for Mrs C to compensate her for the pain that she suffered as a result of her fall.