Bartletts personal injury lawyers in Chester recently helped a man who slipped down the stairs in the dark recover £14,000 in compensation for personal injuries from his landlord.
The gentleman, who had just moved to the area from abroad to take up a management position in a local company, had been living in the rented house for less than a week when the accident happened.
He awoke in the night and decided to go downstairs to get some water. As he stepped onto the internal landing of the terraced house, which had no windows, he reached for the light switch only to find that there was not one. No light had been installed at the top of the stairs.
Unable to see his footing on the dark, he slipped on the top stair and, as there was no handrail to grab onto, fell right to the bottom. He suffered extensive injuries having fractured his collarbone and shoulder. His shoulder had to be strapped, preventing him being able to write in his new job.
When the 40-year-old man came to see one of our specialist personal injury lawyers he was still suffering from a frozen shoulder, which had limited mobility. He needed regular physiotherapy to manipulate his shoulder and relieve the pa
Our solicitor helped the man make a claim for compensation against his landlord under the Occupiers Liability Act. Landlords have a duty of care towards their tenants and must make sure that the rental property is safe by carrying out risk assessments and regular safety checks.
The landlord should have foreseen that there was a risk to his tenants at the top of the stairs and installed lighting and a handrail.
We were eventually able to negotiate a £14,000 settlement for the gentleman from the landlord’s insurance company as compensation for injuries.
