Yu-Mei Chu v State Rail Authority of New South Wales [2007] NSWDC 41

New South Wales District Court

CITATION: Yu-Mei Chu v State Rail Authority of New South Wales [2007] NSWDC 41

HEARING DATE(S): 20/03/07 - 21/03/07

JUDGMENT DATE: 4 April 2007

JURISDICTION: Civil

JUDGMENT OF: Goldring DCJ

DECISION: There will be a verdict for the plaintiff in the sum of $239 405.00

CATCHWORDS: Negligence - Civil Liability Act 2002 - Causation - Domestic assistance

LEGISLATION CITED: The Civil Liability Act 2002

PARTIES: Yu-Mei Chu (also known as Sherry Chu) (Plaintiff) Rail Corporation New South Wales T/as Railcorp (formerly State Rail Authority of New South Wales) (Defendant)

FILE NUMBER(S): 5753/05

COUNSEL: A Lidden SC (Plaintiff) K Andrews (Defendant)

SOLICITORS: Accentro Legal (Plaintiff) Gillis Delaney Lawyers (Defendant)

JUDGMENT

The issues

1 The plaintiff claims compensation from the defendant because she says that the defendant broke a duty of care to her by allowing parts of the steps leading to a platform at its station to be dangerously slippery when they were wet. The defendant says that the plaintiff failed to take proper care for her own safety. The plaintiff claims damages, but the defendant disputes the type of damages to which the plaintiff is entitled, if I find that the defendant is liable to her.

The plaintiff's evidence of the accident

2 The plaintiff says that about 1 am on 29 December 2002 she caught a train from the city. She was travelling home to Roselands after she had been to a party. There was no direct train to Wiley Park, (the station closest to her home) so she had to change at Sydenham. Her train arrived on platform 2. The train to Wiley Park left from platform 6. Therefore, she climbed up the stairs to a walkway, crossed on a walkway, and descended the steps to platform 6. The train had just arrived as she was coming down the stairs. That night it had been raining. There is evidence from the bureau of meteorology of significant, but not heavy, rain. The plaintiff noted that there was water on the walkway and on the stairs. She did not see any signs warning pedestrians to take care on the stairs or to "watch the steps". When she was about 8 steps from the bottom, her left foot slipped from under her. She says that she immediately felt pain in her left ankle and her back. She landed facing upwards. She could not stand up, because she could not put weight on her left ankle. She lay on the stairs for some time. A person assisted her and carried her to the top of the steps on his back. He also called a taxi, and she went home to Roselands by taxi.