A man who was injured when a seat collapsed under him at a Hungry Jack's restaurant in western Sydney is likely to get more than $100,000 in damages, a judge says.
Pierre Matouk, 50, suffered a severe back injury when a concrete and steel chair at the Warwick Farm Hungry Jack's outlet fell apart when he went to sit on it on August 10, 2008.
As a result of his injuries, he was unable to continue his work as a plumber's labourer.
In a judgment delivered in the NSW Supreme Court on Friday, Justice Jane Matthews ordered Hungry Jack's to pay Mr Matouk interim damages of $35,000.
But she said it was likely he would eventually be awarded a sum in excess of $100,000.
"I am comfortably satisfied that the plaintiff will recover damages from the first defendant in an amount of at least $100,000, and very possibly in a much larger figure," Justice Matthews said.
She quoted from a civil engineer's report of the outdoor seating area that noted the "unusually haphazard and somewhat eclectic methods" used to assemble the chairs.
The accident could have been avoided if staff at the store had regularly checked the stability of the chairs, the judge said. |
