A NSW woman is set to receive a major payout from Kmart after she suffered a life-changing injuring from a falling mountain bike at a store on the Central Coast.
Rita Marmara was checking out at Kmart Woy Woy in September 2018 when she was injured by a mountain bike that fell from another customer’s trolley.
The NSW resident was waiting in line with her granddaughter when another customer attempted to manoeuvre two mountain bikes in his trolley to use the self-service checkout.
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Seconds after the man let go of the trolley handle, the trolley tipped over, with the larger of the two bikes falling and hitting Marmara on the back, neck and shoulder, according to court documents.
The incident was captured on CCTV and taken to the NSW District Court, where Marmara claimed damages of $743,971 in medical treatment costs and lost income.
Meanwhile, Kmart estimated damages of $5000 — a stark difference, Judge Judith Gibson said when handing down her decision this week.
Before the incident, Marmara was in “excellent health” and worked full-time in an aged care facility.
“She was a fit and healthy person who walked to work full-time and performed a job which had a significant physical activity component,” Gibson said.
“That physical work included dragging trolleys, cleaning pots and assisting in the care of residents whose physical health was fragile in circumstances where they would have been dependent upon her strength if called upon.”
However, Marmara has since suffered chronic pain that has left her unable to work, despite undergoing surgery twice.
Gibson said Kmart had painted Marmara as a woman “fabricating symptoms” that led her to undergo two “unnecessary” operations and take a considerable amount of pain medication, and rejected the suggested she had “hoodwinked” her doctors and surgeon.
The court was told, while the impact of the bike pushed Marmara forward with “considerable” force, the situation could have been more dire.
“The plaintiff was holding the hand of a small child at the time,” Gibson said.
“That child could have been struck by one or both boxes falling out.”
The court was told Kmart has an option for customers with heavy items to pick them up from a loading dock. However, there were no signs “telling the customers such a service was available”.
The shop attendant also did not inform the customer about the option.
Marmara was awarded a minimum of $613,461.55 in damages, which could increase once her out-of-pocket expenses were confirmed.
