Restaurant Trip Injury Compensation
- Is my husband entitled to claim restaurant trip injury compensation if he injured his knee when tripping over a broken paving slab in the restaurant car park?
Question:
Is my husband entitled to claim restaurant trip injury compensation if he injured his knee when tripping over a broken paving slab in the restaurant car park?
Answer:
In most cases you would be able to make a restaurant trip injury compensation claim – however, there are certain conditions that have to be met.
First of all, it has to be established that the car park was owned by the restaurant and that the restaurateur had a duty of care to maintain the car park in a safe condition. If the restaurant was on shared premises, you would still be entitled to make a restaurant trip injury compensation claim, but it may be against somebody other than the restaurateur.
Secondly, it must also be established that the paving slab responsible for your husband´s trip had been in a dangerous condition for some time, and was not a recent hazard which the liable party had insufficient time to repair or isolate. It must also be determined that the hazard was not so obvious that any person could have avoided it with a reasonable amount of care.
Furthermore, if your husband had been drinking prior to the accident happening, an insurance company defending a restaurant trip injury compensation claim could allege that your husband contributed to his injuries by his own intoxicated state. Although this would not disqualify him from making a restaurant trip injury compensation claim, the eventual compensation settlement could be reduced if it this was found to be true.
Ideally, you will have witnesses to the event who can testify that the paving slab had been a hazard for a period of time and that your husband was not suffering from the effects of too much alcohol when his accident occurred. With so many variables attached to this particular restaurant trip injury compensation claim, it is better if your husband discusses the circumstances surrounding the accident directly with a solicitor to establish that he has a restaurant trip injury compensation claim which is worth his while to pursue.
