Diner wearing high heels wanted £100k after ‘slipping on chocolate truffle'
Rosina Malik, 62, twisted her ankle and broke her right wrist when she fell at Chapter One, a fine-dining restaurant in Farnborough Common, Kent.
The fall happened after she stood to adjust her dress at the end of a three-course dinner with two friends.
She blamed her accident on stepping on a 'runaway' caramel-filled chocolate truffle – which had been 'dropped but not retrieved' by a waiter during dessert.
Mrs Malik sued the restaurant's owners, Simply Chapters Ltd, for up to £100,000 in damages.
The restaurant denied liability and while not disputing that a truffle was dropped onto the floor, the restaurant's managers insisted Mrs Malik did not step on it before the accident.
In a judgment at Central London county court this week, Judge Nigel Gerald ruled against Mrs Malik, finding that her right shoe had 'no contact' with the truffle.
The 62-year-old told the court she was left 'in shock' after her fall, which left her with injuries to her ankle and wrist.
The offending truffle was among a selection offered by the waiter which she and her friends decided to have boxed up.
But the truffle fell from its dish while being transferred to the box, explained Mrs Malik, rolling off the edge of the table, where, she claimed, she subsequently trod on it, or its residue.
The judge said that immediately after the accident everyone assumed the truffle was the culprit as it was found on the floor, while some of the chocolate remains were also on the sole of her shoe.
A trawl through the restaurant's CCTV showed a more complex picture, the restaurant maintaining there was no point where Mrs Malik was in fact seen to stand on the caramel choc.
Judge Gerald in his ruling said the traces of sticky caramel on her shoe probably ended up on the sole 'after the accident and before her shoes were removed'.
Defence lawyers acting for the restaurant claimed Mrs Malik ended up on the floor after her right ankle 'inverted' and she tripped over, insisting that the 'runaway truffle' had nothing to do with the accident.
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