Our client was a 36-year-old man who was married and enjoyed sports, fishing, and camping. As a child he was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, which affected his fingers, toes, ankles, hips, and neck but he understood what was required of him to keep the symptoms in control and did not require any regular medication with respect to the arthritis.
For his birthday, his wife booked them in for a two-hour whale watching tour online. When making the booking, there were no warnings given with regards to possible injuries that might occur during the tour.
On the day of the tour, before heading out on the water, the captain of the vessel spoke of the water conditions that day and went over the safety instructions. There was no indication during these safety instructions about hanging onto anything whilst on the water, only that they were to take the waves with their legs. Also, there was no indication during this talk regarding any chance of possible injury. In fact, the client’s wife even asked the captain whether anyone had previously injured themselves, and he replied that someone had once been stung by a jellyfish.
After heading out from the wharf, approximately 20 minutes out, the captain slowed down before he accelerated into a wave. As the boat hit the wave, our client’s whole body came off the seat where he had been sitting. He attempted to grab the bar in front of him and grab his wife’s hand. His legs and feet were lifted off the ground and as the boat came down off the wave, his body dropped hard onto the seat. Our client immediately felt pain in his chest and back and curled over in pain. His wife informed the captain that he had been injured, and so the captain turned the boat around and they returned to the wharf. An ambulance was called, and he was transported to hospital.
As a result of the incident, our client sustained wedge fractures to two vertebrae in his thoracic spine. Our client was discharged from hospital with analgesics and was told that only rest would help him recover from the fractures.
He contacted our expert personal injury lawyers to discuss the possibility of a public liability claim. Public liability claims are fault-based, which means that for a claim to be successful, fault on the part of some other party needs to be proven.
We reviewed the information provided to us by the client and determined he may have a claim for compensation against the tour operator. Expert opinion reports on liability, investigator’s statements and medical evidence were obtained on our client’s behalf.
Calculations of non-economic loss, past treatment expenses and future treatment expenses were considered in the claim and our initial assessment for damages was calculated.
Negotiations were entered into with the defendant’s solicitors and our opening offer was put forward. Multiple counteroffers with the defendant’s solicitors were required before the matter eventually resolved for several hundreds of thousands of dollars.