Damon’s Earthworks Pty Ltd wins $98K payout over grader used to widen Bruce Hwy
Gympie business owners have won a payout of nearly $100,000 after their role in the Bruce Highway upgrade was compromised through no fault of their own.
Gympie
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A Gympie business has won a payout of nearly $100,000 over a faulty piece of machinery used to widen the Bruce Hwy at Gympie in 2019.
In public documents from Brisbane District Court obtained by the Gympie Times, Karen and Damon Stiller of Damon’s Earthworks Pty Ltd pursued AA Machinery Pty Ltd, formerly known as Agrison, for loss of income after a road grader they bought was rendered useless for three months during a major Bruce Hwy project.
The grader, which was scratched and missing a wing mirror on delivery in March 2019, broke several times during the course of its use, the documents state.
It came with a five-year warranty.
The documents state parts of the grader were not assembled properly, requiring replacements for a broken hub and a faulty ball-joint for the blade.
The replacement part for the hub needed to be ordered twice after the first part was the wrong size and a replacement ball-joint for the grader’s blade was never delivered, forcing Mr Stiller to repair it himself.
As a result, the grader was rendered unusable for 56 working days between 23 July 2019 and 9 October 2019.
The Bruce Hwy project, which was the sole reason the grader was bought, was completed in late October 2019; though Damon’s Earthworks was asked to join a similar project to upgrade the Mt Lindsey Hwy the following month.
Mr Stiller declined the offer, fearing the grader may fail again and cause further problems.
Instead, he sold the grader in March 2020 and used other people’s machinery for similar, albeit smaller, projects.
Mr Stiller said AA Machinery had a reputation as a reliable contractor, but the problems he faced with the grader were “embarrassing”.
As a result, Damon’s Earthworks won $98,324.74 in damages and loss of income, despite having submitted an earlier claim for more than $150,000.
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