Palma City Council will have to pay 70,000 because of a manhole cover that protruded one and a half centimeters from the ground, the space left by the operators of the municipal water and sewerage company to be able to lift it with a latch.
This centimeter and a half was enough for a woman who was walking at night in the area not to notice and stumble upon this urban element, according to Ultima Hora. The result was serious injuries that the Palma City Council must compensate through the municipal company.
The ruling that has now been made public indicates that the woman was walking at night and did not notice that the sewer protruded slightly since, in addition, the cover was painted white because it was located at a zebra crossing, which made it even more complicated. that the woman could notice the abnormality. The woman fell to the ground after tripping over a tab that employees use to lift the lid. She had stayed up and caused the trip.
The ruling states that the administration is responsible for maintaining specific areas for pedestrians, such as the zebra crossing, and states that citizens cannot be asked to “notice” any deficiencies that may exist. He considers that the fault lay with the administration and that there was no negligence on the part of the pedestrian, who suffered serious injuries.
The compensation that Palma must pay seeks to restore the damage caused in the fall. She had to undergo surgery several times after suffering a dislocated elbow and in one of the operations she had to have a prosthesis implanted. The woman herself presents important consequences that make daily life difficult, for which the courts order that she be compensated with 70,000 euros.
Palma City Council pays thousands of euros each year in compensation for citizens falling, most of them in very specific points in the city where the pavement is especially dangerous when it rains. Palma is currently undertaking a comprehensive reform of the central Plaza de España, where falls were so frequent that even the Consell Consultiu de Balears, the body that must report on citizens’ claims for compensation, has recommended that it be changed.
