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£200,000 Compensation Payout For Falling Off A Barstool Injury – Calculate Amounts

In this case study, we take a look at the £200,000 in broken ankle injury compensation payouts that were awarded to a claimant who suffered a badly fractured ankle when a chair broke under him in a public house. We will explain how such pub accident claims could be brought against a public house for accidents that happen within the premises, as well as how much compensation for a fractured ankle could be appropriate for other cases.

If you are looking at this page because you have suffered a broken ankle in an accident that was not your fault, then you may be interested in the information we provide on making such claims, further down this page. We will also offer some guidance on how you benefit from a free, no-obligation assessment of your case, along with being provided with a personal injury lawyer from our panel to assist you. We’ll even provide an alternative to a barstool injury compensation calculator, to give you some idea of what barstool injury compensation payouts you could be looking to receive. If you’d like to get started right away, simply call the Legal Expert team on 0800 073 8804. Otherwise, why not read more about this broken ankle injury case, to see how the compensation claim was settled.

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What Happened To The Claimant In This Case?

The claimant in this case broke an ankle in an accident whereupon a bar stool collapsed when he was sitting on it. The accident happened in a public house while he was watching a football match. Owners/operators of pubs and restaurants have a duty of care to their customers to ensure their safety while they are within the premises. If they do not take proper care to ensure that chairs etc are fit for use, then this could lead to injury, and this may mean they could be held liable for injuries sustained as a result of their negligence.

What Caused The Broken Barstool Accident?

broken ankleThe broken chair accident was reported to have happened in 2012. The claimant was sitting on a barstool in a pub watching a football match when the stool broke under him, sending him to the floor and resulting in a broken ankle, which required surgery to repair. It was thought that the initial injury led to another accident, whereupon the claimant fell on the stairs, damaging his back.

What Broken And Fractured Ankle Injury Did The Claimant Suffer?

As previously mentioned, the claimant suffered a broken ankle when his chair broke in the pub. The resulting injury led to the claimant having to undergo surgery whereupon a metal plate was inserted to fix the ankle fracture and stabilise his ankle joint. The claimant claimed that this led to other issues with his health, however, from the back injury we mentioned above to him putting on an extreme amount of weight from not being able to move around properly after the accident. He claimed that he was unable to lose this weight and had to undergo bariatric surgery to get his weight back to a healthy level. The claimant also revealed that his family and working life were detrimentally affected by the fractured ankle and he considers himself ‘disabled’ by the accident. According to the claimant, he is not able to walk for long distances and has lost out on work because of his perceived disability. He also claimed that he has to now subcontract work on ladders that he was able to do himself before the accident and said that his balance has been affected and that he experiences swelling and pain in the area, depending on whether the weather is warm or cold.

Treating And Managing Ankle Fractures

When it comes to treating and managing a fractured or shattered ankle, there are a number of different ways in which treatment might be given, depending on where the fracture occurred, and which bones are most affected. Any disruption to the stability of the ankle would be assessed before a treatment plan was put in place.

If there is instability caused by the fractured ankle, or there are many fragments of bone involved, surgery may be appropriate. Pins, plates and wires may be used to fix the ankle in surgery, to bring back stability to the joint. If there is only a small fracture, then a simple plaster cast or boot may be put on to immobilise the ankle so that it may heal. This may need to be left on for 6 weeks or more. You may then be given crutches so that you can take some weight off the joint while it heals. Once a boot or cast is removed, you may need to undergo physiotherapy to get movement back in the joint, as the ankle could often feel stiff and uncomfortable after a period of immobility. Broken ankle recovery may be painful initially, but your doctor should be able to prescribe painkillers to you to help with this.

According to the NHS, treatment for a broken ankle might be delayed for some days after the injury is suffered because of the broken ankle swelling. Sometimes, a patient is sent home to wait for the swelling to go down before surgery is scheduled. However, there are some risks involved with waiting for the swelling to subside; for example, a blood clot or blister could develop if the fracture were to move.

How Was This Claim For A Fractured Ankle From Falling Off A Barstool Concluded?

While the initial claim was for £1m, the court did not order for the claimant to be paid that amount. The pub disputed the claimant’s £1m claim, as they said not all of the issues that the claimant had suffered after the broken bar stool accident were directly due to the fractured ankle that the claimant suffered. While the judge agreed that some of the issues, such as the acceleration of orthopaedic change have been caused by the claimant’s ankle fracture, and that strain had been put on the family of the claimant because of the broken stool accident. However, the judge recognised that some of the issues leading to the claimant’s disability may not have been related to the accident itself, and other factors may have contributed. She therefore awarded a sum of over £200,000 to the claimant in damages, but not the £1m he was claiming for.

How Much Compensation For Falling Off A Barstool Was Paidout?

The £200,000 that the claimant was awarded in broken ankle injury compensation payouts included £100,000 for lost earnings, as well as compensation for the injury itself. The report does not state how much of the broken ankle injury compensation payouts included legal fees, or whether they did at all. The actual payout was for £198,343.69, but interest was added, which took the total payout to over £200,000.

Fractured Ankle Compensation Amounts And Payouts

If you were considering how much compensation for a fractured ankle could be achievable for your own case, you may be interested to learn that your claim would not really be valued until such time as you had undergone an assessment with an independent medical professional, where details of your broken ankle would be taken, you may undergo an examination, and the full nature of your injury and prognosis were documented in a medical report. You may, however, already have put your details into a personal injury claims calculator and received a very rough estimate of what your claim could be worth. We have done things slightly differently here, offering you a look at what the Judicial College Guidelines say could be appropriate broken ankle injury compensation amounts for certain types of injury. Again, these are rough guidelines, but may give you some idea of approximately how much your claim could be worth.

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Injury Notes Settlement Amount
Very severe ankle injuries Could include a transmalleolar fracture to the ankle which could lead to a deformity. Future injury risks may lead to the leg having to be amputated below the knee. Bilateral ankle fractures causing joint degeneration may also be included in this bracket. £46,980 to £65,420
Severe ankle injuries Injuries that require a long time in plaster and further extensive treatment. Pins or plates would need to be inserted to provide some stability but there may still be some instability that would lead the claimant to have a reduced ability to walk. If special footwear was required or there was a detrimental effect on the ability to work for the claimant, the higher end of the bracket may be appropriate. £29,380 to £46,980
Moderate ankle injuries Fractures that may lead to some instability that might mean that stairs or uneven ground pose some issues to the claimant while walking. Future osteoarthritis risk may be present. £12,900 to £24,950
Modest ankle injuries Undisplaced fractures might be in this bracket. The level of award would be determined by looking at whether recovery was complete, whether scarring remained, whether there was any remaining discomfort and whether there was a risk of osteoarthritis long-term Up to £12,900

On top of these barstool injury compensation amounts, special damages such as loss of earnings, care costs, medical and travel costs may also be claimed.

No Win No Fee Fractured Ankle Compensation Claims

If you would like to begin a broken ankle personal injury claim, but the idea of paying for legal fees upfront is putting you off, you could be interested to hear that with no win no fee claims, you wouldn’t have to pay legal fees until such time as your compensation settlement was paid out. No win no fee claims work by way of a Conditional Fee Agreement, a document you would sign to agree to pay the lawyer a percentage (not more than 25%) of your settlement if your claim had a successful outcome and resulted in compensation. Once you had signed the document, the personal injury solicitor could then begin working on your claim, without you having to pay them any fee to get started. In the event that your compensation claim did not result in a payout, you wouldn’t have to pay the percentage we mentioned, so long as your claim was a valid one. However, if your lawyer successfully ‘won’ you a compensation payout, their percentage would be deducted from the payout with the rest going to benefit you. If you would like to learn more about this type of payment structure, we’d be happy to discuss it further with you.

How Legal Expert Could Help Victims Of Pub And Bar Injuries

Here at Legal Expert, we have helped many claimants start on the path to compensation and we’d be happy to do the same for you. We could offer you a free no-obligation consultation over the phone where we could discuss your broken ankle or other ankle injury and could give you some idea of whether you might be eligible to claim compensation for it. We could also offer a rough idea of the potential broken ankle injury compensation payouts you could receive for your injuries. If we feel that you could be eligible to make a personal injury claim for a fractured ankle, whether it was a broken stool injury, a chair tipping injury, or any other type of accident that wasn’t your fault, then we could offer you the services of a personal injury lawyer from our panel. The solicitors we work with all operate on a no win no fee basis, so you could get started with a claim right away.

Start Your Claim

Would you like to begin a claim for a broken ankle that you sustained in an accident that was not your fault, or are you looking for more information on ankle injury compensation payouts, or have other questions about making a claim? It’s easy to get in touch with us. You could either call the team on 0800 073 8804, or email us on info@legalexpert.co.uk. There’s even a contact form and a live chat feature here on the site. We look forward to helping you in any way that you’d like us to.

Essential References

Bar Or Pub Accident Claims – This guide offers information about making a claim for an accident in a bar or a pub.

Waiter/Waitress Or Chef Injury? – If you have suffered an injury at work as a waiter, waitress or chef, this guide could offer some valuable information.

Ankle Injury Compensation – If you have injured your ankle and would like to know whether you might be able to claim compensation, then this guide might be of interest.

Catering Safety – HSE – The HSE has some valuable information on catering safety which you can see here.

Ankle Fractures – NHS – The NHS information on fractured ankles might be of some help to you.

Original Case Information – www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7738005/Satellite-TV-engineer-wins-200-000-payout-bar-stool-accident.html

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    • Patrick Mallon

      Patrick is a Grade A solicitor having qualified in 2005. He's an an expert in accident at work and public liability claims and is currently our head of the EL/PL department. Get in touch today for free to see how we can help you.