Grapes v AAI Limited
[2025] QCA 60 · Bradley JA (Bond JA and Ryan J agreeing)
The appellant was a paramedic who attended a serious car accident at Mount Tamborine in September 2018, where she treated a passenger whose arm had been almost severed. She later developed post-traumatic stress disorder and could no longer work. She did not sue the driver or the compulsory third party insurer within the three-year limit, so she applied to the court to extend the limitation period. A Supreme Court judge refused the extension, finding she could have used a solicitor to identify the driver and insurer much earlier, but did not take that step. She appealed. The Court of Appeal dismissed her appeal, holding that while her psychiatric condition was significant, she had been able to pursue other legal matters during the same period and could reasonably have engaged a solicitor to find the missing details before late 2023. Because she could not show she had taken all reasonable steps, the court could not extend the limitation period, and her personal injury claim cannot now proceed. She was ordered to pay the respondents' costs.
Incident & injury
Paramedic attended the scene of a single-vehicle motor accident as a first responder, treating a passenger whose arm had been almost completely amputated, and retrieving the passenger's humerus bone; developed psychiatric injury from trauma exposure.
- Body regions
- Psychiatric
- Diagnoses
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Major depressive disorder
- Incident date
- 2 September 2018
- Location
- Mount Tamborine, Queensland
Quick facts
- Date of judgment
- 2 May 2025
- Claim type
- MAIA
- Proceeding
- Appeal
- Plaintiff outcome
- Unsuccessful
- Plaintiff age at injury
- Occupation
- Paramedic with the Queensland Ambulance Service Professional
Outcome
The Court of Appeal dismissed the appellant's appeal against the refusal of an extension of the limitation period under s 31(2) of the Limitation of Actions Act 1974 (Qld). The Court held the appellant failed to show she had taken all reasonable steps to ascertain the identity of the driver and CTP insurer before November 2023, and ordered her to pay the respondents' costs of the appeal.
Key issues
Appeal
This decision was the subject of a subsequent appeal: Grapes v AAI Limited [2024] QSC 267
Grapes v AAI Limited [2025] QCA 60
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