A woman who suffered permanent injury when the chair she was sitting on her office collapsed has been awarded compensation for a back injury at work.
Terry Anne Downie (51) from Canberra in Australia was working for the Community Information and Referral Service in the Australian Capital Territory, when the chair she was sitting on gave way – causing Terry Anne to fall to the floor and hurt her back.
A colleague who witnessed the incident said that she heard a loud crack and saw Terry Anne fall to the floor and, when Terry Anne was taken to hospital, scans revealed that the accident had caused a disc in her spine to bulge and come into contact with a nerve root.
An investigation into how the chair had collapsed revealed that the single moulding plastic base of the chair had failed in a “catastrophic manner” when two of the five spokes at the base of the chair snapped.
Although she was receiving workers compensation from her employer, Terry Anne – who still suffers from sciatica and lower back pain eleven years after the accident – made a personal injury claim for compensation for a back injury at work against the company who had imported the chair from China in kit form, and the retailer who put the chair together and sold it to her employer.
Both the importer – Jantom – and the retailer Fyshwick denied their liabilities for Terry Anne´s accident at work and her ongoing injuries, but a judgement handed down by the Australian Capital Territory Supreme Court found Jantom and its insurance company to pay Terry Anne Au$933,030 in compensation for a back injury at work and Au$112,000 special damages to cover her medical expenses.
The Community Information and referral Service was also awarded Au$441,911 in respect of the workers injury compensation that had been paid to Terry Anne since her accident in 2002.