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Mrs Claus

Active Member
10 July 2017
11
0
36
Hello,

I have a friend who im worried about.

He had a slip in a supermarket almost a year ago and said he hurt his knee. The cause of slip was slipping on cream knocked over by a customer almost 10 minutes before he slipped in it (caught on cctv).

He went to the dr the next day post slip and all scans showed nothing wrong. He is still complaining of pain, but every dr and test cant find anything wrong except an old fracture relating to a pre existing condition.

He filled an incident report (2 days after) in with woolies who agreed to pay medical exspense. He wasnt happy about that as he wants more money for taking time off work, for his wife taking days off and getting people to drive him around (works mainly from home).

So instead he is now taken it to a no win no fee lawyer. This is where im concerned. The lawyer has told him its a 100% win case and he will get almost $200k. He has signed up with them and taken out a loan to cover initial costs with them.

I am worried he doesnt have much of a case and will be up for thousands and will have to pay woolies legal costs.

Im not sure 10 minutes is negligent on woolies behalf?

Any advice would be great.
 

larrylarry

Well-Known Member
2 March 2018
32
2
124
Hi Hannah,
You're a good friend.

He had a slip in a supermarket almost a year ago and said he hurt his knee. The cause of slip was slipping on cream knocked over by a customer almost 10 minutes before he slipped in it (caught on cctv).
The case of Woolworths v Strong is instructive in relation to the reasonable time to for cleaners to inspect, detect and clean a spot. A reasonable time would be around 20 minutes, anything beyond is too slack.

He went to the dr the next day post slip and all scans showed nothing wrong. He is still complaining of pain, but every dr and test cant find anything wrong except an old fracture relating to a pre existing condition.
Could well be aggravation.

So instead he is now taken it to a no win no fee lawyer. This is where im concerned. The lawyer has told him its a 100% win case and he will get almost $200k. He has signed up with them and taken out a loan to cover initial costs with them.
Red Flag. I don't think any lawyer can guarantee the end result.
 

Shaun Marcus

Lawyer
LawConnect (LawTap) Verified
7 February 2017
3
0
1
Victoria, Australia
lawtap.com
I disagree with Larry above. Sounds like a good case to me. Cream is readily identifiable and ought to be cleaned up or at the very least warned of within a ten minute window. Strong does not stand for the premise that 20 minutes is the 'reasonable period' of cleaning and inspection.

Having said that, no case is every 100% guaranteed (clearly) and there are risks of litigation. I personally hate litigation cost loans and there are many personal injury firms/lawyers who do not use them. I would certainly not recommend signing such an agreement.