£10,000 Accident Claim Against Hotel

Ward & Rider Solicitors have acted for a Mr B in order to secure a personal injury settlement of £10,000.00.  Mr B is a self employed businessman who lives in Coventry.  He, his wife and friends had gone to a black tie dinner dance at a large nationwide hotel chain.  He had spent time with his friends and his wife before leaving at around midnight.  As he walked through the foyer he slipped and fell.  He suffered a fracture of his ankle.  The reason why he slipped was because the hotel staff had decided to mop the foyer floor at a time when a lot of guests were leaving.

Unbeknown to our client, another guest, shortly before the accident that he was involved in, was unfortunate enough to have also slipped on the mopped floor, suffering injury.  Thankfully her injury was much less severe than our client's. 

The accident would have been avoided if the foyer floor had not been mopped at that time and if the appropriate signs had been placed out warning people of the slipping hazard.  We instigated an accident claim against the hotel chain.  At first they disputed that they were to blame for this matter and advised that our client had no claim.  We traced a witness and also requested copies of the CCTV footage.  The footage was particularly poor but did clearly show an individual mopping the floor.  and also wholly inadequate signs warning people of the potential hazards posed by the floor.  It also showed the lady who had fallen and suffered injuries herself, just before our client's accident.  She was in the process of arguing with the hotel staff that what they were doing was inadequate.

We stuck to our argument.  The Insurers acting for the hotel chain refused to agree to any settlement at first but upon the production of witness statements showing that the area was wet and that it was a slipping hazard and also witness evidence showing that other people had slipped and suffered personal injury, they accepted that they would have to make some settlement.

Our client's injury did prevent him from working as effectively as he would ordinarily do.  He was, however, able to manage by working from home more and using a train rather than a car to visit his clients.  He also had a pre booked skiing holiday with his family.  He went on this holiday a few months after the accident but because of his injuries and the symptoms that he suffered, he was unable to participate fully in the holiday in that he was unable to ski.

Due to his injury he was also unable to help with the household chores, to help with the shopping, to carry out some of the DIY projects that he had ongoing at the time, and he was unable to do the gardening.  This is understandable bearing in mind the damage caused to his ankle.  He therefore claimed  not only for his injuries but also for his financial losses which included travel costs, treatment, additional help with chores around the home, some loss of earnings and an amount for the fact that his holiday was not as enjoyable as it could have been.  After a series of offers and counter offers, the hotel's Insurers paid our client £10,000.00 for his personal injury claim.  They also paid his legal costs.

*Mr B's name has been changed to respect his privacy but this is indeed a true case.