Al Sharpton's daughter hikes up mountain after suing New York City for $5m compensation for 'severely injured' ankle

Dominque Sharpton posts mountain-top image on social media

Dominique Sharpton (Getty)

Questions are being asked about a $5m lawsuit brought by a daughter of activist Al Sharpton for a damaged ankle after she posted a photograph of herself having hiked to the top of a mountain in Bali.

Dominique Sharpton, 29, filed the legal action against the New York City government seeking compensation after she claimed she was “severely injured, bruised and wounded” when she fell on uneven pavement in the Soho neighbourhood of the city last year.

In her lawsuit, Ms Sharpton, the civil rights campaigner’s eldest daughter and who works in her father’s National Action Network, claimed she still suffered “and will continue to suffer for some time physical pain and bodily injuries”.

However, Ms Sharpton has sparked outcry posting a photograph of herself and a friend on top of an Indonesian mountain on social media. In the picture, Ms Sharpton appears above the clouds.

“It graphically demonstrates bad judgment and good feet. It all adds up to no case,” legal analyst Paul Callan told the New York Post.

“Ms Sharpton’s decision to climb a mountain in Bali and then post an incriminating photo on Twitter is a gift to the defence.”

Ms Sharpton’s lawsuit against related to an injury allegedly suffered in October and was filed against the city of New York’s departments of Transportation and Environmental Protection.

A spokesman, Nicholas Paolucci, told The Independent that “the lawsuit will be reviewed”.

The National Action Network did not immediately respond to questions.

However, Ms Sharpton’s lawyer, John Elefterakis, told the Post that she had sustained “multiple ligament and tendon tears in her ankle”. He said that despite her climb over the weekend she had “not returned to her pre-accident form”.

The lawsuit said she had suffered “internal and external injuries to the whole body, lower and upper limbs, the full extent of which are unknown, permanent pain and mental anguish”.

It said she wanted damages for the “loss of quality of life, future pain and suffering, future medical bills, [and] future diminution of income”.