Bullock v Wraight
[2026] QCA 176 · Bond JA (Mullins P and Boddice JA agreeing)
Samantha Bullock was injured when her car was hit from behind in December 2021. She ran a chicken farm and also worked casually at a resort. She sued the driver's insurer for more than $510,000, claiming ongoing neck, shoulder, back and psychiatric injuries. Liability for the crash was admitted, but the extent of her injuries and the money she should receive were disputed. At trial the judge did not believe much of her account, partly because video surveillance showed her moving freely and doing physical activities, and awarded her only about $34,858. Because that amount was small, she needed the Court of Appeal's permission to appeal. She argued the trial judge made legal and factual errors, including in how the medical evidence and her claimed care needs were treated.
The Court of Appeal refused permission to appeal, finding no substantial basis to say the trial judge got it wrong. It ordered her to pay the insurer's costs. This is a devastating outcome to the injured plaintiff considering she had already incurred the expense of 4 separate experts, as well as the cost of a barrister to run her original trial and subsequent appeal. Despite "winning" her original damages claim, the awarded sum was so low that she was not legally entitled to recover her legal costs from the insurer (and now had to pay theirs). This would almost certainly have been a net negative result for the plaintiff.
Incident & injury
The applicant's car was struck from the rear by a car driven by the first respondent, deploying the airbags.
- Body regions
- Shoulder, Cervical spine, Thoracic spine, Chest / thorax, Face, Psychiatric (Right)
- Diagnoses
- Cervical spine soft tissue injury (resolved), Right shoulder injury (resolved), Thoracic spine injury (resolved), Chest wall injury, Preorbital haematoma, Adjustment disorder with anxious and irritable moods and driving phobia (ongoing)
- Incident date
- 9 December 2021
Quick facts
- Date of judgment
- 18 September 2026
- Claim type
- MAIA
- Proceeding
- Appeal
- Plaintiff outcome
- Unsuccessful
- Plaintiff age at injury
- Occupation
- Chicken farm operator (also casual waitress at Spicers Retreat) Manager
- Liability
- Admitted
- ISV assessed
- 6 uplift applied · Item 98 (Minor shoulder injury)
- Whole Person Impairment
- 0%
- Total damages
- $34,858
Outcome
The applicant sought leave to appeal a District Court award of $34,858.27 (against a claim exceeding $510,000) after the primary judge formed an adverse view of her credibility, materially assisted by video surveillance. The Court of Appeal refused leave to appeal, with costs, finding no substantial basis for contending the judgment was affected by error.
Key issues
Bullock v Wraight [2026] QCA 176
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