Our client was a healthy man in his mid-40s who attended the gym 5 to 6 days a week and enjoyed exercising on the beach regularly. He had always performed heavy physical work throughout his entire employment history. He had previously worked as a lumberjack and semi-trailer truck driver.
Background
At the time of the incident, our client was working as a removalist and sub-contracted out to a company that specialised in the removal of school furniture.
Our client was at the factory with his truck backed up to the dock area. Other subcontractors were at the factory and their truck was also alongside, as they were to take furniture for delivery that day.
Our client and his offsider were lifting and carrying a table to be loaded onto his truck. The other subcontractors nearby were going through whiteboards which were placed in a stack alongside the path our client needed to go through to get to his truck. The whiteboards became too difficult to manage due to their weight and the stack of whiteboards fell over, hitting our client’s legs and forcing our client to the ground whilst more whiteboards continued to fall, trapping his legs to the floor. The combined weight of these whiteboards was estimated to be about 150kgs.
As a result of the accident, our client sustained fractures to his knee, ankle, and leg, requiring pins and a plate be inserted. Our client had significant time off work following the accident, however after the surgeries and after participating in physiotherapy and rehabilitation, he eventually returned to work approximately a year later, but on reduced hours. He is unable to drive interstate or undertake furniture removals as he did prior to his injury.
The Claim
Our client engaged us to act on his behalf with respect to 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 third-party contractors. Expert opinion reports on liability, investigator’s statements, medical evidence, and income loss documents were obtained on our client’s behalf.
It was determined that because of the accident, our client was unable to perform full and unrestricted duties in the open labour market. He also continued to suffer from pain which prevented him from sitting for long periods of time. Calculations of general damages, medical treatment expenses, care and wage loss were considered in the claim.
Once the matter was appropriately prepared, multiple negotiations were entered into with the defendants’ solicitors and the matter eventually resolved.