NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The Supreme Court on Monday awarded an elderly woman just over $70,000 after a January ruling determined negligence led to her slipping into a manhole after the metal sheet covering it shifted out of place.
Joan Enetha Butler, a taxi driver, fell into a utility conduit while at Arawak Cay and fractured her left ankle.
Justice Ian Winder handed down the ruling on the damages on Monday.
He ruled in January that he was satisfied Butler had proven her claim of negligence and invited the parties to layover submissions on damages.
According to court documents, she drove some guests from the Royal Towers of the Atlantis Hotel to Twin Brothers restaurant at the Fish Fry on October 19, 2012.
She parked her taxi in the designated parking area and accompanied the guests across the road to the restaurant.
As she walked back to her vehicle shortly after 8pm, she stepped on what appeared to be a plank of solid steel near the vehicle.
The steel plank shifted and her foot dropped into a hole beneath. She had to be lifted to her taxi.
Butler, who is hypertensive and diabetic, saw doctors at Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) on October 31 and was given pain medication.
She returned to the hospital on November 1 for X-rays and was diagnosed with a fracture of her ankle.
The taxi driver, who was 71 at the time of the incident, was provided a soft cast for her foot and leg, and eventually provided a hard cast.
She said prior to the injury, she worked seven days a week as a taxi driver, a career she began in 2007 and “one that I had planned to continue for the rest of my life”.
According to her affidavits, she made $23,400 per year net, but was unable to work more than eight years after the injury, due to the pain and weakness she continued to experience.
Wesley Ferguson, president of the Bahamas Taxi Cab Union, gave evidence to support the valuation, though defense made the case that there was no certainty of what Butler may have earned during the period of loss.
She said she became dependent on her children and grandchildren, “something which has caused me much anguish and distress”.
Butler claimed her loss of earnings was $450 per week from October 2012 and continuing, and home help cost $150 per week between October 2012 and February 2013.
She claimed a total of $159,600 in lost wages up to the age of 80.
Winder awarded Butler $2,100 for home help for 14 weeks leading up to her discharge from PMH.
He said he took into account the vagaries of taxi work and Butler’s advanced age of 71 at the time of the incident “already some six years above the normal retirement age”.
He awarded $50,000 for loss of income, which included the 14 weeks from the time of the accident to discharge from the hospital.
He awarded another $15,000 for PSLA (pain, suffering and loss of amenity) and $3,000 for loss of congenial employment.
The attorney general was named as the defendant.
Attorneys Ntshonda Tynes and Roshar Brown represented Butler.
Audirio Sears appeared for the Crown.
In relation to her damages claims, Butler said she suffered pain, injury loss and damage.
