If I sprained my ankle at a city park due to poor maintenance, is this worth pursuing?
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If I sprained my ankle at a city park due to poor maintenance, is this worth pursuing?
I sprained my ankle at a park owned by the city. It occurred on a concrete walkway that was sunk into the turf so as to be level with the grade. In the area I fell there was at least an inch or 2 drop off where the turf should have met the walkway grade but had been worn/eroded away. My ankle rolled over and I fell by stepping onto the edge of that unexpected drop off. I have yet to be medically examined but this is likely a grade 1 or 2 soft tissue injury with heavy swelling and now bruising a couple days later. Is this negligence that would be worth pursuing legally?
Asked on April 15, 2012 under Personal Injury, Washington
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
It's probably not worth pursuing. First, the amount of money you could recover is commensurate with your injury and out-of-pocket costs (e.g. unreimbursed medical, lost wages). Swelling, bruising, and a soft-tissue injury is not worth much in terms of "pain and suffering," so unless you happened to incur signifiant out-of-pocket medical costs or lost several days of work, it's difficult to imagine you could recover enough to justify the cost of a lawsuit.
Moreover, a municipality is not generally responsible for faulty-maintenance-related injuries unless you could show that the city knew of the hazard presented; basically, you'd have to prove that somone had complained about this condition prior to your injury.
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