Our client was a 55 year old male care worker.
He was walking down a main road in North London when he tripped
over a defect in the pavement. He fell to the ground and landed on
his left arm. Our client was taken to a local hospital where he was
told he had fractured his left elbow. His arm was then put into a
sling. Our client continued to experience a lot of pain and
discomfort and was referred to see an orthopaedic surgeon for
treatment.
Our client's injury did not resolve and he
eventually had to have an operation to insert 2 screws to stabilise
his elbow. The medical evidence we obtained stated that our client
might need another operation in the next 10 years if he developed
arthritis.
As a result of our representation he was
awarded £34,000 in damages.
Points of interest
Our client worked as a carer for the elderly
and infirm and got his work through an agency. Our client could not
work for 13 weeks after the accident and only received Statutory
Sick Pay. Prior to the accident our client had two types of care
work, domestic and personal care work. Domestic work involved light
housework and personal care involved bathing, toileting and
dressing. Personal care work was much more physically demanding and
paid a higher hourly rate.
Following the accident our client was unable
to do personal care work anymore because of his injury and could
only do domestic care which paid less per hour. As a result our
client was earning less money than before the accident.
The award of £34,000 included £11,000 for our
client's pain and suffering (general damages) and the risk of
future surgery, £6,000 for loss of past earnings and £16,000 for
loss of future earnings. Our client was also awarded £1,000 for
travelling expenses and some other miscellaneous expenses.
Simon
O'Loughlin
Hodge Jones & Allen