Brisbane and Gold Coast Personal Injury Lawyers explain trip & fall personal injury claims where occurring on footpaths. No Win No Fee Lawyers, servicing Brisbane, Gold Coast & all Qld.
We commonly receive claim enquiries involving injuries from trip & falls on footpaths. These claims are usually against the local Council that has responsibility for and control over these areas of public land.
Because of the vast areas of public land Councils are responsible for, Courts are normally hesitant to find against these bodies in such claims. The issue being that Council’s cannot possibly be aware of every crack in a footpath or protruding tree root, in the large areas they oversee. Courts also consider that people should take care for their own safety when walking in public areas. And typically, local Council’s strenuously defend such claims, on these very grounds.
No Win No Fee Personal Injury Lawyers Explain Trip and Fall Claims Against Local Councils
The vast majority of falls on footpaths are due to uneven paving, protruding tree roots, or hidden indentations in the ground. To be successful in a claim arising from such events, it’s necessary to show the local Council was made aware of the danger prior to your trip & fall because of complaints made to it, or it had undertaken work in the area and therefore ought to have been aware of the hazard. For example, where the Council has undertaken maintenance of a footpath or nature strip and has failed to remove a protruding tree root, or where the Council removes a tree and doesn’t properly fill in the resultant hole.
No Win No Fee Personal Injury Lawyers Explain Trip and Fall Claims Against Businesses
Where the trip hazard is on a footpath outside a business premises, then the claim can be brought against the business. A business has a higher duty of care to keep areas providing access to their premises free of hazards, because it is inviting customers onto its premises. And this includes footpaths and nature strips outside the business premises.
No Win No Fee Personal Injury Lawyers Explain Trip and Fall Claims Against Homeowners
But what about where trip and falls occur outside private homes on footpaths, or where the footpath has been maintained by the home owner? The question is whether the home owner, in failing to remove or warn of a hazard on the footpath, or to advise the Council of the hazard, holds liability to a person injured from a trip and fall whilst using the footpath outside the home.
Where a party is invited onto the property of the home owner, as a friend or family member, or to undertake work, then it is likely a Court would find that there was a duty on the home owner to take reasonable steps to ensure that access to their property was safe or, the intended visitor was warned of any hazards. But what about where the person injured is just a passer by using the sidewalk outside the home?
In the case where the hazard has been placed there by the home owner, and a reasonable person in the position of the home owner would have been aware that the hazard exposed passers by to a risk of tripping and falling, suffering injury, then it is more than likely that the home owner would be found to hold liability in such case.
But what about where the trip hazard outside a private home is naturally occurring? For example, where roots of a tree on the footpath start to protrude out of the ground, or tree roots destabilise the pavement, posing a trip hazard? There is after all no legal obligation upon the home owner to maintain the footpath, and the tree is in fact the property of the Council. The home owner would require the consent of the Council to undertake any pruning of the tree root. Was there a duty on the home owner to advise the Council of the trip hazard posed by the tree root ? Would a Court hold a home owner liable for a trip hazard on property that the home owner is not the owner of or responsible for?
It is considered that, given the recent attitude of the Courts toward trip and fall claims, unless the homeowner placed or caused the hazard on the footpath, then it is unlikely a Court would find the homeowner liable for a trip and fall suffered by a passer by on the footpath outside their home. However, it seems that this is yet to be tested before the Courts. Claims in these types of cases are normally focused on the local Council that owns and has responsibility for footpaths and nature strips.
A Worthwhile Personal Injury Claim to Pursue
The problem often faced with personal injury claims against home owners is whether there are funds available to meet the claim. In some cases, the homeowners will have insurance, but where this is not the case, then it has to be investigated whether there are sufficient funds there to meet a personal injury claim, and to make the claim worthwhile pursuing.
You May be Entitled to Workers’ Compensation if your Injury Occurred on the Way To or From Work
If your trip and fall occurred on your way to or from work, you could very well have a right to claim workers’ compensation for your injury. The benefits you can claim for in a workers’ compensation claim include, payment of your medical and rehabilitation expenses and wages where you are unable to work due to your injury. At the end of your workers’ compensation claim, you can also seek an assessment of whether you have sustained a degree of permanent impairment due to your trip and fall injury. If you have sustained impairment, then you will be entitled to a lump sum amount relative to the degree of impairment assessed.
Gold Coast & Brisbane No Win No Fee Personal Injury Lawyers are Experts in Personal Injury Claims
Been injured because of a car accident, workplace incident, medical malpractice or due to the wrongful or negligent actions of another and need advice as to whether you have a personal injury claim to pursue? Are you wondering if you have the right to injury compensation but are not certain? Then No Win No Personal Injury Lawyers are experts in personal injury claims and can help.
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Under Queensland legislation, there are time limits applying to personal injury claims, so it really is very important that you don’t put off speaking to a personal injury lawyer about your circumstances. If you delay, you could end up missing out on significant compensation that you need to help support yourself and your family. Call us today on 1300 388 383. Don’t put it off any longer.