The Story about this Public Liability Claim

Gavin came to us in 2017 after a nasty fall in the street.

He was walking along a footpath in a suburban shopping street. A store had previously been demolished leaving a vacant lot that abutted the footpath. The edge of the footpath had deteriorated over time. Although the Council repaired the area in 2015, the repair itself was poor and began to break down, so that Gavin tripped and stumbled in an area of broken concrete and lumpy bitumen. When he landed, Gavin suffered a serious injury to his left shoulder. He tore the rotator cuff, developed a frozen shoulder and was left with pain and restriction of movement in this left arm.

Prior to his accident Gavin had been a keen sportsman and as the injury was to his dominant arm, he was unable to continue with his main hobbies of squash and squash coaching.

The Council challenged the seriousness of Gavin’s injuries by referring him to a Medical Panel. Initially, the Panel thought that his injury might get better over time, but sadly in the end Gavin never made that hoped for recovery. When he saw the Panel again the following year, they accepted that Gavin’s injuries were indeed serious and that he was entitled to bring a claim for those injuries under the legislation.

We gathered evidence over time, investigated the site, and followed up with witnesses who said that they had complained about the footpath before Gavin’s accident. One witness had even fallen there themselves.

By doing this  were able to demonstrate to the Council that they should have known about this problem area of footpath and had not fulfilled their obligations to make sure the footpath was safe. As a result, we were able to secure an excellent settlement for Gavin at a mediation.

Gavin was delighted with the outcome and wrote:-

Actual Client Testimonial.

Dear Henry,

hope you are well.

Please pass on my kindest regards & sincere thankfulness to your team looking after my case. The diligence & persistence over the 3 1/2 year journey is testament to the outcome achieved today,  Even with a 12 month delay after the first Medical Panel decision to review a year later, HCA stood the course & kept faith in face of a difficult time . I thank-you for taking me along & am very satisfied with today's settlement, I am certain it is all due to your Companies efforts.

I was very fortunate to come across you when I needed a Law firm, I would have no hesitation in recommending you in the future, The attention to detail & the excellent people  you use have all made this a worthwhile experience.

Once again a wholehearted thank-you

yours sincerely

Gavin Murphy


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