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A Kmart shopper will receive a huge settlement after a mountain bike fell on her inside a store.
Rita Marmara, 64, was at the self-checkout at the Kmart in Woy Woy, on the New South Wales Central Coast, when the incident unfolded. news.com.au reported.
Mrs Marmara, who was holding her daughter’s hand, was injured when a bicycle fell from another customer’s cart and hit her in the back. The accident was captured on CCTV.
Rita Marmara, 64, was at the self-checkout at the Kmart in Woy Woy, on the New South Wales Central Coast, when the incident unfolded.
The grandmother, from Sydney, took Kmart to the New South Wales District Court, where she claimed $743,971 in damages to cover medical bills and loss of income.
She told the court she had two operations after the incident and that her neck and shoulder pain had prevented her from continuing to work at a care home.
Kmart estimated the damages suffered by Ms Marmara to be $5,000, which Judge Judith Gibson considered “unrealistic”.
Instead, he awarded the woman a minimum of $631,461.55. Exact costs will be determined at a later date.
Kmart estimated Ms Marmara’s damages at $5,000, which Judge Judith Gibson deemed “unrealistic” (file image)
The judge said Kmart had tried to claim that Marmara was “manufacturing symptoms,” which she said was not true.
“The plaintiff has established that her current injuries and disabilities were caused by the defendant’s negligence,” Judge Gibson said.
The court heard how customers were supposed to load heavy items into their car via a loading dock, but there were no signs in the store telling them to do so.
“Although the plaintiff was only hit by the largest box, the impact of the blow was considerable. At that time the plaintiff was holding the hand of a small child. “That child could have been hit by the fall of one or both boxes,” the judge said.