Royal Oak Settles Case with 76-Year-Old Fall Victim

In July 2008, Royal Oak was sued in Oakland County Circuit Court, alleging that the city was negligent in its maintaining of a sidewalk near Woodward and Webster. The plaintiff was a 76-year-old woman who fell and broke bones in her foot, which resulted in surgery. Royal Oak attempted to get the case dismissed by arguing for governmental immunity. The Circuit Court allowed the case to continue.

Civil cases must go through a case evaluation process in which three attorneys take a look at the case and give an estimate of what a possible jury award may be. The goal is to get the parties to settle. The case evaluators determined that an appropriate award was $83,000. After appealing to the Court of Appeals and having the case sent back to the Circuit Court, the city has agreed to settle the case for $49,130, about 60 percent of the case evaluation award.