Cootharinga North Queensland v Wolfs
[2025] QCA 106 · Cooper J (Bond JA and Ryan J agreeing)
Diane Wolfs worked as a disability support worker for Cootharinga North Queensland, which provides accommodation for people with disabilities. She claims that in December 2016, while she was helping residents out of a vehicle in a garage, a client opened a car door into her knee and injured her. She sued her employer for damages. Her employer asked the District Court to strike out parts of her court documents, arguing they did not properly identify the risk of injury the employer should have guarded against. The District Court refused, but the employer appealed. The Court of Appeal agreed that several paragraphs of the plaintiff's pleading did not clearly state what the risk of harm was, which left the employer unable to fully understand the case against it. The court struck out those paragraphs but allowed the plaintiff to rewrite them and continue her claim. This was a procedural decision about how the case is pleaded; the plaintiff's underlying claim was not decided.
Incident & injury
While employed as a disability support worker, a client opened a car door into the plaintiff's knee, causing injury, while the plaintiff was assisting residents from a vehicle in a garage.
- Body regions
- Knee / lower leg, Knee
- Incident date
- 3 December 2016
- Location
- Cootharinga residential facility (garage)
Quick facts
- Date of judgment
- 20 June 2025
- Claim type
- WCRA Common Law
- Proceeding
- Appeal
- Plaintiff outcome
- N/A
- Plaintiff age at injury
- Occupation
- Disability support worker Community & Personal Service Worker
Outcome
The Court of Appeal granted the employer leave to appeal and allowed its appeal against the primary judge's dismissal of a strike-out application, ordering that paragraphs 30, 30A, 31A and 32 of the plaintiff's pleading be struck out with leave to replead because the pleading failed to articulate the risk of harm. The employer's further appeal as to costs of a separate application failed for want of leave under s 118B.
Key issues
Cootharinga North Queensland v Wolfs [2025] QCA 106
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