Purcell v Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation & Anor
[2024] QSC 58 · Crow J
Nathan Purcell injured his right knee in March 2013 when he slipped on wet, worn timber steps at a cattle station near Gayndah where he worked as a senior station hand. He had a workers' compensation claim and several surgeries over the following years, and was able to keep working as a butcher. He did not start a common-law damages claim until about a decade later, well outside the normal time limit. The court had to decide whether the limit should be extended. The judge found that Mr Purcell did not have enough information to know he had a worthwhile claim until June 2022, when a specialist gave a new opinion that his knee would stop him doing heavy work within seven to ten years. Because that crucial fact only became known then, and because he had reasonably relied on an experienced solicitor, the judge extended the time limit so the claim could proceed. The respondents were ordered to pay his costs.
Incident & injury
Slipped on wet wooden cottage steps without handrail or non-slip treatment while descending; landed awkwardly injuring right knee
- Body regions
- Knee / lower leg, Right knee (Right)
- Diagnoses
- Right knee ACL rupture (revision), Medial meniscal tear/failed repair, Degenerative/arthritic change in right knee
- Incident date
- 7 March 2013
- Location
- Mimosa Station, near Gayndah, Queensland
Quick facts
- Date of judgment
- 12 April 2024
- Claim type
- Hybrid (WCRA + PIPA)
- Proceeding
- Interlocutory
- Plaintiff outcome
- Successful
- Plaintiff age at injury
- ~32 (inferred)
- Occupation
- Senior station hand / butcher Technician / Trade Worker
Outcome
Court granted extension of the limitation period under s 31(2) Limitation of Actions Act 1974 (Qld), finding that the material fact of a decisive nature (Dr Winstanley's supplementary report of 27 June 2022 about occupational prognosis) was not within Mr Purcell's means of knowledge until that date. Costs awarded to the applicant on the standard basis.
Defendants (2)
1 Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation
Occupier (landowner)
- Judgment against this defendant
- $0
2 Primary Partners Pty Ltd
Employer
- Judgment against this defendant
- $0
Key issues
Purcell v Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation & Anor [2024] QSC 58
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