Slipped on Ice, Broken Ankle, Sue?
Discussion
Wasn't sure if this is the correct place to post this or somewhere in the Pie and Piston but this will do for starters.
About a month ago my wife slipped over on ice whilst taking the kids to school and broke her ankle. Broke two bones and ended up having surgery to pin it back together. Thing is she did it whilst crossing the car park of a small / local supermarket that's at the end of our road. Were not ones for the litigious society that we seem to be moving towards but a number of people have asked if we were suing the supermarket and looking at some of the "where there's blame there's a claim" type lawyers it seems we might have a case. Like I say we're not big advocates of the claim for anything society but on the other hand if every f
kers doing it then why not? The supermarket is owned by a big chain so it's only their insurance that would be paying out. Having my wife out of action has also been a massive PITA for us as I'm now having to work around school runs, hospital appointments and other stuff.
Should we? Can you still start proceedings a month on? What evidence would we need to say it occured on their property? There were witnesses and some of the shop staff came out to help but we don't think anything was recorded? An ambulance was called but then cancelled as it turned out they'd be at least an hour before arriving so we made our own way to A&E.
About a month ago my wife slipped over on ice whilst taking the kids to school and broke her ankle. Broke two bones and ended up having surgery to pin it back together. Thing is she did it whilst crossing the car park of a small / local supermarket that's at the end of our road. Were not ones for the litigious society that we seem to be moving towards but a number of people have asked if we were suing the supermarket and looking at some of the "where there's blame there's a claim" type lawyers it seems we might have a case. Like I say we're not big advocates of the claim for anything society but on the other hand if every f
kers doing it then why not? The supermarket is owned by a big chain so it's only their insurance that would be paying out. Having my wife out of action has also been a massive PITA for us as I'm now having to work around school runs, hospital appointments and other stuff.Should we? Can you still start proceedings a month on? What evidence would we need to say it occured on their property? There were witnesses and some of the shop staff came out to help but we don't think anything was recorded? An ambulance was called but then cancelled as it turned out they'd be at least an hour before arriving so we made our own way to A&E.
Edited by AllHailToTheAle on Wednesday 14th February 13:31
AllHailToTheAle said:
Wasn't sure if this is the correct place to post this or somewhere in the Pie and Piston but this will do for starters.
About a month ago my wife slipped over on ice whilst taking the kids to school and broke her ankle. Broke two bones and ended up having surgery to pin it back together. Thing is she did it whilst crossing the car park of a small / local supermarket that's at the end of our road. Were not ones for the litigious society that we seem to be moving towards but a number of people have asked if we were suing the supermarket and looking at some of the "where there's blame there's a claim" type lawyers it seems we might have a case. Like I say we're not big advocates of the claim for anything society but on the other hand if every fkers doing it then why not? The supermarket is owned by a big chain so it's only their insurance that would be paying out.
Should we? Can you still start proceedings a month on? What evidence would we need to say it occured on their property? There were witnesses and some of the shop staff came out to help but we don't think anything was recorded? An ambulance was called but then cancelled as it turned out they'd be at least an hour before arriving so we made our own way to A&E.
Not sure but I am sure this will not go well.About a month ago my wife slipped over on ice whilst taking the kids to school and broke her ankle. Broke two bones and ended up having surgery to pin it back together. Thing is she did it whilst crossing the car park of a small / local supermarket that's at the end of our road. Were not ones for the litigious society that we seem to be moving towards but a number of people have asked if we were suing the supermarket and looking at some of the "where there's blame there's a claim" type lawyers it seems we might have a case. Like I say we're not big advocates of the claim for anything society but on the other hand if every f
kers doing it then why not? The supermarket is owned by a big chain so it's only their insurance that would be paying out.Should we? Can you still start proceedings a month on? What evidence would we need to say it occured on their property? There were witnesses and some of the shop staff came out to help but we don't think anything was recorded? An ambulance was called but then cancelled as it turned out they'd be at least an hour before arriving so we made our own way to A&E.
Whether it's legally allowed or not I can't see why any decent person would try to claim for that. Are you seriously suggesting that every landowner should have a legal obligation to make sure that their entire property has a certain coefficient of friction and that people should be exempted from the requirement to exercise due caution by looking where they are going and thinking about what they're doing?
AllHailToTheAle said:
SonicShadow said:
Were the supermarket negligent in any way?
Well that's the thing isn't it, should they have gritted their car park? I was by all accounts an ice rink that day.So your misses wasn't even a customer of the supermarket and was using it as a short cut and now you want to sue them? Should she have even been in the car park? Isn't this just taking the piss a bit and I'd suggest she pays a bit more care next time....
In saying that, when I ran a pub, i was told by many landlords that you shouldn't clear snow or de-ice steps into the pub. If you did, and someone hurt themsleves then you left yourself open to a claim because you'd known about and attempted badly to resolve the issue making yourself liable. If left alone you could deny any liability.....
Complete bks probably.....
That's funny.... you can say Piss but bks gets censored :-)
In saying that, when I ran a pub, i was told by many landlords that you shouldn't clear snow or de-ice steps into the pub. If you did, and someone hurt themsleves then you left yourself open to a claim because you'd known about and attempted badly to resolve the issue making yourself liable. If left alone you could deny any liability.....
Complete b
ks probably.....That's funny.... you can say Piss but b
ks gets censored :-)AllHailToTheAle said:
The supermarket is owned by a big chain so it's only their insurance that would be paying out.
.
And in turn, every one else pays the price for this, and my tins of beans will go up in price. .
Hope the ankle gets better, but you are naive if you think there is no cost to anyone - after all, its insurance.....
I’m responsible for a site where we went through this a while back.
Car park conditions were snowy and icy, no attempt had been made to clear it.
Woman used my car park to cut through to the high street, slipped, and broke her nose. Tried to sue, our companies legal team didn’t even try to settle out of court as this had no legs at all (they tend to be wary and will try and settle out of court for the most part). We were showed not to be negligent.
Had I cleared the car park, and she’d managed to slip on some that I’d missed she would likely have been successful in her claim.
We do keep the car park gritted, but that’s the maximum I’ll do.
Car park conditions were snowy and icy, no attempt had been made to clear it.
Woman used my car park to cut through to the high street, slipped, and broke her nose. Tried to sue, our companies legal team didn’t even try to settle out of court as this had no legs at all (they tend to be wary and will try and settle out of court for the most part). We were showed not to be negligent.
Had I cleared the car park, and she’d managed to slip on some that I’d missed she would likely have been successful in her claim.
We do keep the car park gritted, but that’s the maximum I’ll do.
I get what everyone is saying and my morality would suggest that we wouldn't pursue this but then someone else with less morals would happily cash in on this if they could and if that's the way things are going then why not?
Googling it comes up with loads of stuff like this suggesting that claims have often been won: https://www.irwinmitchell.com/client-stories/2013/...
Googling it comes up with loads of stuff like this suggesting that claims have often been won: https://www.irwinmitchell.com/client-stories/2013/...
super7 said:
i was told by many landlords that you shouldn't clear snow or de-ice steps into the pub. If you did, and someone hurt themsleves then you left yourself open to a claim because you'd known about and attempted badly to resolve the issue making yourself liable. If left alone you could deny any liability.....
This, as I understand it, is the crux of it. If the supermarket attempted to get rid of the ice and failed, they have been negligent in how they did so and thus you have a claim. But if they haven't, then no.Put it another way. Assuming it wasn't a 24 hour supermarket, if it froze at, say, 11pm and your wife took her short cut at 3am, how is that the supermarket's fault.
I have also been told in the past, if you clear your drive/path and the post slips and falls, you're negligent, but if you leave it you're not.
All that said I'm not a lawyer so maybe someone who is can comment.
And yes, I agree that capitulating to pressure to go to a NWNF lawyer after you'd already written the event off is pretty crap. Perhaps you also got whiplash in your car from accelerating so hard when you went to assist your wife after her fall? So that might top up the claim too. HTH.
AllHailToTheAle said:
I get what everyone is saying and my morality would suggest that we wouldn't pursue this but then someone else with less morals would happily cash in on this if they could and if that's the way things are going then why not?
Googling it comes up with loads of stuff like this suggesting that claims have often been won: https://www.irwinmitchell.com/client-stories/2013/...
Sure it was only a broken ankle?Googling it comes up with loads of stuff like this suggesting that claims have often been won: https://www.irwinmitchell.com/client-stories/2013/...
No long term psychological impact? night terrors? PTSD?
Fear of car parks, going out alone?
Didn't she smash her expensive Rolex when she hit the floor?
It just depends on how far you're willing to push your morals doesn't it......
AllHailToTheAle said:
An ambulance was called but then cancelled as it turned out they'd be at least an hour before arriving so we made our own way to A&E.
And....Edited by AllHailToTheAle on Wednesday 14th February 13:31
Because an Ambulance couldn't get to her within an hour, you made your OWN way?
Why not just make your "OWN" way before calling an ambulance. A dodgy ankle is hardly LIFE THREATENING!
No wonder our Ambulance service is rushed off their feet running around after petty injuries...
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