Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mrs X’s personal injury claim as it is reasonable to expect her to seek a remedy through the courts. The complaint is therefore outside the Ombudsman’s legal remit.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mrs X, complains the Council has refused to compensate her for injuries to her toe after she tripped on a footpath.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I have considered what Mrs X said in her complaint and her response to my draft decision.

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What I found

4. Mrs X complains the Council has refused to compensate her for injuries to her toe after she tripped on a footpath.

Assessment

5. The Ombudsman cannot determine if the Council is legally liable for the injuries Mrs X sustained or whether it should pay compensation. Ultimately, only the courts can do this. There is a low cost procedure open to anyone to make a money claim through the courts or Mrs X could consider using a ‘no win no fee’ solicitor.
6. For these reasons, it is reasonable to expect Mrs X to resort to court action and the complaint is therefore outside our legal remit and we will not investigate.

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Final decision

7. My decision is that the Ombudsman should not investigate this complaint. This is because it is reasonable to expect Mrs X to seek compensation through the courts and the complaint therefore is outside the Ombudsman’s legal remit.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman