£140,000 for pothole fall

A woman has received £140,000 after a seemingly innocuous fall led to more than five years of debilitating pain. She was walking towards the hotel where her daughter worked when she tripped in a pothole in the footpath and fell forward. She put her arms out to prevent her face from hitting the ground, and fell hard onto her right arm and shoulder. She was told that staff were already aware there was a hole in their footpath. She needed an operation to relieve the pressure around her shoulder joint, but then developed “frozen shoulder” - a disorder whereby the connective tissue around the shoulder joint becomes stiff and inflamed causing chronic pain and restricted movement. Over the next year the claimant underwent two further operations on her shoulder. She is still unable to properly use her right arm. After liability was admitted, the claim was settled out of court.