The Supreme Court of Tasmania has awarded a 70 year old man, who was rendered a quadriplegic, $7.4m.
The 65 year old plaintiff, Ivan Mercer, was the managing director of Windsor Agencies (Windsor) at the time of the accident. He was struck by a pallet of flooring whilst standing inside a container which was being unloaded by forklift and suffered catastrophic and permanent injuries.
Mr Mercer subsequently required two carers to look after him, with their combined hours of work adding up to 27 hours a day.
Windsor was subsequently deregistered but at the relevant time had a workers' compensation insurance policy with the defendant, Allianz Australia Insurance Ltd. Mr Mercer sued his company, alleging his injuries were caused by the negligence of the employee driving the forklift and that Windsor was vicariously liable to pay damages to him in respect of his injuries prior to its deregistration.
The court found the forklift driver negligent but also found Mr Mercer negligent for failing to take proper care for his own safety by remaining inside the container whilst the forklift was unloading the pallets. The award was therefore reduced by 25%.
Mercer v Allianz Australia Insurance Ltd (No 2) [2013] TASSC 35
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