Kate and Henry Carus + Associates

The Story

Kate* is a lovely 58 years old retiree. Up until her accident, she was enjoying a more relaxed time in her life. All her children have grown up and lived away from home. She started to get into health & fitness. She was walking 8 km every day. One evening, Kate was taking a walk around her neighbourhood.  It was 9:30 at night, past sunset. The area is residential with little lighting other than for street lights. She always made it a point to take different routes. That evening, she took a route that she hadn’t taken for the past year. Suddenly, she was tripped on a broken section of footpath, and smashed her chin on the footpath. She then realised that there was 160 mm deep hole on the footpath adjacent to a property that was undergoing construction works.

As a result of the incident, Kate sustained significant injuries including multiple jaw fractures, permanent jaw malalignment, severe damage to the teeth, face sensitization, bilateral tinnitus, neck pain, and psychiatric injuries.

Our Henry Carus and Eliza Tan visited the site and conducted historical search of the footpath over time. We became confident that the footpath was damaged by the builder as a result of repeatedly driving over the driveway to transport materials in and out of the property.

We successfully resolved the matter at an informal settlement conference without the need of going to Court.

Kate* wrote to us to say:

*not real name for confidentiality reasons

Dear Eliza and Henry, I just wanted to thank you both for all your care, expertise, guidance and support throughout my recent claim. The process was difficult, upsetting and sometimes confusing for me but I always felt supported by you. Eliza, you always showed incredible patience, compassion and professionalism to both Graham and I.  Late calls, difficult questions, nothing was ever too much trouble. After a short time it became apparent that you really did care about the outcome of my case and I felt very comfortable in your expert care. Henry, although I didn't get to know you until the end stages of my case I am sure you were very involved in the background. At the Informal Conference it was a pleasure to watch you 'at work'. Firstly, using your wit to calm me and later seeing you use your extensive experience and skill to achieve a great outcome. I'm incredibly thankful that I can now try to put this event behind me and am truly grateful for your efforts. Together you make a dynamic team!

Yours sincerely,

Kate*

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