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A helicopter pilot, who was flying workers between mining sites, and was rendered a quadriplegic when his helicopter crashed after being enveloped in fog, has had his judgment upheld on appeal, with the Supreme Court of Queensland Court of Appeal upholding the primary judge’s finding of negligence against the pilot’s employer.

A young boy, who developed gangrene following an open fracture to his left thumb and ultimately had his thumb amputated, has had his judgment against the hospital overturned on appeal, with the Supreme Court of New South Wales Court of Appeal finding that the claim be dismissed under s 5O of the Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW).

In 2007, Ms Yingjie Zhang consulted George Hardas on numerous occasions for chiropractic treatment. Ms Zhang claimed that Mr Hardas administered a chiropractic device, called the Activator, hundreds of times on each occasion to her cervical spine, which she claims led to her suffering psychiatric injury and mental harm.Mr Hardas held numerous instructor certificates in Activator Method Chiropractic Technique. The device is spring-loaded, and activated by pressing a handle on the instrument’s shank. It delivers a controlled, repeatable force to its rubber tip. The force may be altered, however, the forces are considerable as the point of the device is for it to apply sufficient force to move bones in the spine.Ms Zhang claimed that at their first consultation, Mr...

A man, who was rendered a paraplegic during surgery, and successfully sued the orthopaedic surgeon and anaesthetist for more than $3.8m at first instance, has had his judgment partially overturned on appeal, with the orthopaedic surgeon successfully appealing the lower court findings. The court upheld the finding of liability against the anaesthetist.

A husband and wife, who both suffered psychological harm following the stillbirth of their first child, have successfully sued both the hospital and the obstetrician in negligence, with the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory awarding nearly $900,000 to the couple.

On 29 August 2013, Francesco Puleio was an employee of Olam Orchards Australia Pty Ltd and was working at the “Annuello” orchard in Wemen, Western Victoria. He died when a slasher, which was attached to a Kubota tractor, rolled onto him. The deceased had been using the tractor and slasher to mow grass on the property. A critical issue was the deceased’s level of intoxication at the time of the accident.Mrs Sandra Puleio, the widow of the deceased commenced proceedings in the Supreme Court of Victoria against Olam Orchards, in negligence and claimed damages. She claimed that her husband’s death was caused by the negligence of Olam Orchards and that as a “secondary victim” it also breached its duty of...

A man, who suffered serious injuries in a helicopter crash in the Northern Territory, has now had his claim for damages extinguished, with the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory finding that proceedings were commenced five weeks after the expiry of the limitation period.

A woman, who was injured when her trolley hit her shin as she was trying to go through the entry gates at Aldi, and successfully sued Aldi at first instance, has now been unsuccessful on appeal.

The Federal Court held that Heinz represented that three of its Little Kids SHREDZ fruit products were beneficial to the health of toddlers (aged 1–3 years) when the products were not beneficial to toddlers’ health due to high sugar content and sticky texture: ACCC v H J Heinz Company Australia Limited (2018) ATPR 42-588; [2018] FCA 360 at [315].By doing so, Heinz engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct in contravention of s 18 of the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) and made a false or misleading representation that the products had benefits in contravention of s 29(1)(g) of the ACL: [315], [275].

On 12 August 2014, Louisa Dow was driving home from work. Her vehicle was stationary in a slip lane for traffic turning when Mahmoud Elbarbary’s vehicle collided with the rear of her vehicle. The impact was not a major impact and Ms Dow sustained a whiplash injury.Ms Dow commenced proceedings against Mr Elbarbary in the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory, in negligence and claimed damages. Liability for the accident was admitted and the matter proceeded to a hearing as to damages only.Ms Dow claimed that she suffered musculoligamentous injury, anxiety about traveling in cars, and other psychological sequelae of the accident. Mr Elbarbary argued that Ms Dow recovered within, at most, six months of the accident.