Transport Malta and the Valletta council have been ordered to pay a 46-year-old woman nearly €16,000 in compensation after she tripped on the uneven paving of a street and broke her ankle.

As a result of the accident, the woman suffered seven per cent disability, the court ruled last week, finding both entities responsible for damages.

The woman, who is not being named to respect confidentiality on medical issues, opened a case against the transport agency and the council in 2019. In April 2017, she tripped and fell in St John Street, corner with Old Bakery Street.

She was operated on in hospital and spent 12 weeks recovering in bed, followed by another operation to remove the pins in her ankle, and paid €704 in medical fees.

The council argued that work on the paved road had just been completed by contractors employed by Transport Malta and that the woman was careless to have walked on the pavement.

TM told the court that the road did not fall under its responsibility at the time – in fact, none of the Valletta streets did, it held. 

Daniel Buttigieg and Christian Ellul, the defence lawyers for the victim, asked for €19,203 in compensation, equivalent to seven per cent of the woman’s annual pay multiplied by 19: the number of years spanning 2017 and her retirement.

The court noted that neither the transport agency nor the local council had contested the dangerous state of the road.

The council’s executive secretary said TM had carried out paving works and separate works following the accident.

An architect employed by TM at the time also said that paving works not carried out by the council were carried out by the authority, the court added.

It concluded there had been some agreement between TM and the council on the paving and maintenance of the street.

Judge Toni Abela awarded €15,689.23 in compensation, finding both the agency and council responsible for the incident.

The court took into consideration the fact that when a lump sum is awarded, the court usually deducts 20 per cent from the compensation due to the victim. But when proceedings take long, this could be reduced to 10 per cent. Considering the woman took two years to start proceedings, this was instead reduced to 14 per cent.

Rare case

This is not the first time that pedestrians have been granted compensation for similar incidents – but such cases are rare.

Among others, in 2017 a tourist who tripped on a pavement in St Paul’s Bay back in 2001 was awarded compensation of €20,000. And in 2018 the Fgura local council was ordered to pay €42,736 to a woman who fell in 2010 as a result of a poorly maintained pavement.

Ellul told Times of Malta that since the principles that courts adopt to liquidate damages result in minimal compensation, victims often decide that legal costs and the length of proceedings are not worth it.

“Moreover, the government rarely admits liability out of court.

“In this instance, the government entities were asked for compensation prior to opening the court case. However, they usually simply do not reply, leaving the victim with two options: do nothing or open a case at their own risk, shouldering the costs with no guarantees they will win. And even if they do win, compensation would be low.”

Ellul believes that in this case, the compensation awarded to the victim was well reasoned and close to what the victim demanded.