The Importance of Perseverance in Personal Injury Litigation

I have recently settled a personal injury case which took over 2 years to resolve and which highlighted to me the importance of perseverance and determination to achieve the best outcome for your client.

The facts of the case were simple; my client and his son were walking along a supermarket aisle when he slipped on a puddle of water on the floor and sustained a fractured wrist.

The source of the water was unclear to my client, but as the litigation progressed two possible sources emerged; either a leaking nearby refrigerator or a leaking cleaning machine which had passed over the area minutes before.

The supermarket denied liability as it apparently had no knowledge of any leaking fridge, although somewhat surprisingly failed to produce any maintenance records for the fridges in the store and alleged that the cause of the water was the floor cleaning machine.

The cleaning company which was contracted to clean the store also denied liability as it stated it was unable to determine any fault with the cleaning machine, although admitted the machine had been leaking a few days earlier, prior to it being repaired.  The cleaning company said that the source of the water was a leaking fridge.

The facts of the case became even more curious, when the cleaner in question advised that she had seen wet floor signs displayed in the supermarket aisle prior to the accident, when she had passed by with the cleaning machine, but denied she had put any wet floor signs out.  The supermarket manager in reply said he too had seen a wet floor sign displayed before the accident in the aisle but his staff did not put it out and assumed that the cleaner had!

Whilst one may well have lost the will to live and given up at this point, I duly pressed on….

My client and his son were adamant that no wet floor signs were displayed at the time of the accident.  I tracked down and obtained witness statements from three witnesses in support of my client’s case, who all denied the presence of any wet floor signs when my client slipped.  On disclosing the witness evidence and threatening to take the matter to trial, the supermarket finally put its hands up and admitted liability for the water being on the floor and its insurers promptly settled my client’s claim for its full value.

My client thanked me for my, “dogged and prudent application to this case”, and was very pleased with the settlement finally achieved.

Whilst this case was undeniably a long process for a relatively straightforward accident and injury, it underlines how keeping focus, being determined, meticulously gathering evidence and being an utter nuisance to the Defendant and its Insurers can secure the compensation fully deserved by our injured clients.

If you would like to discuss bringing a personal injury claim, please contact Deborah Lewis, our Head of Personal Injury on 01264 353411 or dlewis@bsandi.co.uk.