Our Polish client was an employee at a food processing plant near Bradford and was responsible for disinfecting the work area at the end of the work day.
On the day of the accident whilst mopping the floor he slipped on a transparent gel like substance present on the floor. The fall was so unexpected and so heavy that he suffered severe injuries to his back and right knee requiring surgery and prolonged hospitalisation.
The Defendant has strongly denied liability and from the outset and made allegations that our client has slipped on the wet floor which he himself was cleaning and therefore was an author of his own misfortune.
They also made more serious allegations that our client was deliberately exaggerating his injuries. These allegations were backed by a number of cleverly drafted witness statements from different managers and employees at the firm suggesting to have knowledge of the accident itself and its immediate aftermath.
The allegations alarmed us initially but upon taking further instructions from the client and reviewing the disclosed documents we realised that not all was as it seemed.
Particularly noteworthy was the fact that none of the statements presented by Defendant were from employees named by our client as those being in direct proximity to the accident.
Through an enormous effort on the part of our Serious Injury team we were able to track down direct witnesses to the accident who at the time were scattered all over Europe (Poland, Germany, Romania) and obtain from them comprehensive statements supporting our client’s version of events.
We were also to obtain sufficient evidence to show that the gel like substance was left on the floor by an earlier shift which should have cleaned the area of the substance as per firms own clean as you go policy.
We were further able to show that our client could not have seen the substance he slipped on as it would have been completely transparent on the type of floor present at the workplace.
Finally we obtained a medio-legal evidence from an eminent Orthopaedic expert who put it beyond doubt that our client did in fact suffer severe injuries and was not exaggerating as alleged by the Defence.
Despite the above the Defendant Solicitors rejected our offers of settlement or suggestion that a settlement meeting should take place and decided to proceed to Trial. At the same time they kept alleging our client has exaggerated his injuries and should withdraw his claim.
The matter only settled shortly before the Trial was to take place and after all preparatory work for the Trial has taken place.
The Defendant solicitors often pursue the allegations of exaggeration of injuries against Claimants even when there is no reasonable evidence to allow them to pursue such defence. This is designed to put pressure on the Claimant to withdraw the claim at an early stage or to accept a substantially lower offer.
Our client was very satisfied with the outcome of the case and he received nearly £50,000 in settlement of his claim and some additional funding for future rehabilitation needs.
He has now moved back to Poland and with the money he received he was able to retrain into a new career and he currently has an office based job with a salary substantially higher than that at the time of the accident. At IMD Solicitors we have substantial experience dealing with accidents at work. To speak to our experienced Personal Injury solicitors call us on 0330 107 0107 or email us at info@imd.co.uk.
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