A WOMAN who needed a plate and screws implanted in her broken arm after tripping on uneven pavement has won $165,000 from a western Sydney council.
Joan Ann Angel, 67, fractured her left arm and injured her hip when she tripped on the footpath on George Street, South Windsor, in July 2004.
Ms Angel fell with such force her head bounced on the concrete.
She sued Hawkesbury City Council in the New South Wales District Court but lost after the judge ruled the raised slab had posed an "obvious risk''.
The NSW Court of Appeal today overturned the decision and found the council liable for Ms Angel's injury.
Chief Justice Jim Spigelman and four other appeal judges awarded her $165,178.20 in damages.
The court found shadows cast by nearby trees had obscured Ms Angel's view of the uneven slab, which was 5cm high where she tripped.
An admission by a council officer the day after the accident that the area was "earmarked for repairs'' and that Ms Angel "got there before we did'' was particularly relevant to liability, the court ruled.
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