Hypotheticals by Manny Wood Published in the Coffs Coast Advocate on 11 May 2019.
Josh, warehouse storeman, severely injures his spine when he lifts a 60kg crate full of electrical components.
Josh proceeds through the Workers Compensation process and eventually commences proceedings in the District Court against his employer for negligence.
The employer claims they are not liable for negligence because Josh breached their policy against lifting anything above 20kg without assistance, and that Josh knew his actions were unsafe.
Josh claims that he and other employees were routinely expected to lift greater weights than 20kg and that he did not know the weight of the crate of electrical components before he lifted it. He also gave evidence that there was no trolley and no other employees available to assist him.
The matter was decided by a jury and Josh was awarded $585,000. However, the jury found that Josh was partly responsible and reduced the awarded damages by 38% for contributory negligence.
Josh appealed the contributory negligence verdict. The Court of Appeal found that, with the greatest respect to the jury’s findings, Josh’s evidence that he did not know the weight of the crate of electrical components and that employees were routinely required to lift weights greater than 20kg, went unchallenged by the employer.
The suggestion that Josh should have sought assistance or carried the crate (without knowing how) to a set of scales did not amount to contributory negligence and could, at best, be described as mere inadvertence, inattention or misjudgement.
The Court of Appeal found that it was not open to the jury to make a finding of contributory negligence and set the verdict aside. The Court affirmed the assessment of damages of $585,000 without reduction.
If you would like Manny to address a particular legal issue, send your request to manny.wood@ticliblaxland.com.au or call him on (02) 6648 7487.
