Compensation for elderly client injured in supermarket accident

An elderly client with pre-existing co-morbidities was injured when she visited her local Sainsbury’s supermarket. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the store marked out a queueing system in its car park, in places using cord which was not adequately visible.

Our client relied on a mobility scooter and drove into the cord at head height, sustaining severe facial injuries including a displaced fracture of her maxilla, split palate, severe lip laceration, complete transection of her left cheek, muscle damage and displacement of several teeth. She required emergency maxillo-facial surgery and extensive restorative dentistry. Ever since the incident, she has struggled with eating and drinking and with her appearance, experiencing a loss of confidence and becoming reclusive.

Her accident was the subject of a Health and Safety investigation that led to a £1 million fine. We were approached and instructed at a very early stage and obtained an early admission of liability and agreement under the Rehabilitation Code for funding to meet our client’s immediate needs assessment. This included engaging a case manager to assist her.

Interim funds were secured to pay for ongoing treatment needs and to provide care and support. We obtained preliminary expert evidence that recommended further treatment, which improved our client’s function and appearance to a significant degree, although she remains with residual, ongoing issues.

She decided that she did not wish to have further treatment and we were then able to obtain final expert evidence on her condition and prognosis and to value her claim. We made an initial offer to settle the claim, which led to negotiations, and we were able to achieve a satisfactory resolution of damages.