Maxine Maryanne Bryce sues Woolies Southside for negligence

A customer who tripped over a ‘trolley’ at a Gympie supermarket says her mental and physical injuries were so bad she had to retire.

Supermarket giant Woolworths Group Limited is being sued by Maxine Maryanne Bryce after she allegedly tripped on a low set flatbed “trolley” while leaving the self-serve checkout at its Southside Town Centre store in early 2021.

A Woolworths supermarket in Gympie is at the centre of a civil fight over claims its negligence left a school cleaner with injuries that forced her into early retirement.

Supermarket giant Woolworths Group Limited is being sued by Maxine Maryanne Bryce after she allegedly tripped on a low set flat-bed “trolley” while leaving the self-serve checkout at its Southside Town Centre store in early 2021.

Woolworths has rejected these claims and said Ms Bryce tripped on a pallet, not a trolley.

The statement of claim lodged at Gympie District Court says Ms Bryce, 63, was at the centre about 9am on January 14 when her left foot collided with the “trolley”.

She lost her balance, tripped, stumbled, and landed in a “squatting position”, injuring her knee and ankle.

Ms Bryce also suffered a psychiatric injury from the incident, the document says.
She accused the supermarket of failing its duty of care and should have know the risk the “trolley” posed to customers and either made that risk clear, or moved it.

‘Not a sport’: Inside the lives of Qld’s top pig hunters

The statement of claim lodged with Gympie District Court claims Maxine Maryanne Bryce, 63, was shopping at the Southside Town Centre Woolworths on the morning of January 14, 2021, when she tripped and injured herself. Woolworths has rejected the claims it was negligent.

As a result of her injuries she was forced to take four weeks off work, the claim says.

When she returned to work in April 2021 she was forced to reduce her workload from 30 hours per week to 15, the claim says, and in July of that same year she took early retirement.

She is claiming $372,979.97 in damages and compensation.

This included claims for $114,457.20 for future care, $84,311.06 in future earning losses and $86,981.26 in lost past wages.

The 63-year-old was “more likely than not” to need a total knee replacement in the next five years due to her injuries, it says.

Woolworths has rejected Ms Bryce’s claims.

In its lodged defence document, it says Ms Bryce tripped on a green pallet and there was “no trolley in the vicinity of the incident”.

It argues it complied with its duty of care and took “reasonable precautions”.

Levi’s Crossing: Permanent memorials to loved teen tragically taken

Documents lodged with Gympie District Court say Maxine Bryce is seeking more than $370,000 in damages and compensation for injuries she claims she suffered when she tripped at the supermarket.

It did not have a similar duty to warn Ms Bryce of “of obvious risk”, adding she did not “keep proper lookout”, observe where she was walking or the “clearly visible pallet” and the incident was due to her own negligence.

Woolworths also rejects the claim for compensation, saying the knee injury was due to underlying issues of a pre-existing condition identified in May 2019 and the ankle injury was only a sprain.

It further claims pay slips show she had already reduced her workload to 15 hours per week by August 202o, before the incident, and took much less time off work than has been claimed.

The matter has not yet proceeded to any hearing at court.