Tatiana Neumuller: The Little Store owner found not guilty of attempting to defraud WorkCover

Gold Coast mum Tatiana Neumuller has faced a Brisbane court for day two of her trial, after being accused of acting ‘dishonestly’ to obtain more than $1 million in damages from an insurer and her former employer.

Tatiana Neumuller, 37.

The owner of a popular Gold Coast homewares store who was accused of acting “dishonestly” to obtain more than $1 million in damages from WorkCover and her former employer has been found not guilty.

Tatiana Neumuller, 37, faced the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Thursday, November 17 for day two of trial after she pleaded not guilty to four charges including three of knowingly making a false or misleading statement to a medical specialist and one of attempting to defraud WorkCover.

Prosecutor Ben McMillan reiterated allegations made on Wednesday that the Merrimac mum acted dishonestly when she made statements to three doctors for the purposes of a common law claim, but failed to mention she was operating The Little Store out of the Gold Coast’s Currumbin Valley.

He said she told the medical professionals on several occasions after opening the store that she was not undertaking any work, which was misleading as she was in fact working on a self-employed basis.

Mr McMillan alleged she deliberately failed to tell the truth about her work with The Little Store in order to further her WorkCover claim for damages.

Neumuller’s barrister Sophie Harburg argued her client had not acted dishonestly as she assumed and believed that by disclosing information about her business to Centrelink, other government entities were also aware of her operations.

She said her client had no intention of ‘hiding’ The Little Store from WorkCover.

Ms Harburg further alleged a statement made by Neumuller to a doctor about starting an “online business” was true and correct as her physical store was not operating at the time due to Covid-19 restrictions.

A statement Neumuller made in relation to her being unable to work in retail was also not ‘knowingly dishonest’, Ms Harburg said, as she believed she would not be able to meet an employer’s physical expectations of her.

Ms Harburg said the Gold Coast mum was however able to work in The Little Store as the tasks she completed on a self-employed basis were akin to “pottering”.

The Brisbane Magistrates Court.

It was said Neumuller may have interpreted a doctor’s question about her ability to return to work as being about her ability to return to work as an employee, rather than her ability to return to work in any capacity.

Magistrate Mark Nolan adjourned the court for several hours while he deliberated his judgment, returning to declare he found Neumuller not guilty of each of the four charges as the prosecution had not proved every element of them “beyond a reasonable doubt”.

“In particular, I’m not satisfied with the evidence before me that the answers given by the defendant to the three specialists were knowingly false or misleading,” he said.

“Further, I’m not satisfied on the evidence that the defendant attempted to defraud WorkCover …”

EARLIER

Gold Coast mum Tatiana Neumuller, 37, has appeared in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on charges of attempted fraud and knowingly making false or misleading statements to obtain an award of damages.

It was alleged the young entrepreneur acted dishonestly when she purported in a statement and notice of claim submitted to WorkCover Queensland to be unemployed due to injury when she was in fact operating a business called The Little Store out of the Gold Coast’s Currumbin Valley.

Prosecutor Ben McMillan told the court on Wednesday that she also dishonestly represented to three doctors about her work situation at the time – indicating to one she was not working nor volunteering, to a second she was not working nor able to return to work, and to a third she was starting an online business.

He told the court Neumuller had admitted to registering The Little Store as a business in December 2018, and to commencing operations from a Gold Coast premises in February 2019.

A senior lawyer with WorkCover Queensland, Amita Laroiya, explained on Wednesday that the state government office did not become aware of either fact until it employed an independent entity to conduct surveillance of her on dates in February, March, and May 2020.

Mr McMillan said Neumuller had viewed the relevant footage and confirmed it depicted her at The Little Store completing tasks such as serving customers, arranging shelves, and cleaning.

Tatiana Neumuller, 37.

Defence barrister Sophie Harburg alleged her client had been “very frank” with WorkCover about her intentions to start a business, and felt she had its encouragement.

In a record of interview conducted by senior prosecutions consultant at WorkCover Fiona Toppenberg on October 28, 2020, and played to the court on Wednesday, Neumuller said she began operating The Little Store in February 2019, shortly after she stopped receiving payments related to an injury she sustained in a retail job in 2016.

Ms Toppenberg asked the Gold Coast mum about her appointments with the doctors, noting that their records indicated she told them she was not working nor volunteering.

Neumuller said she would “never” have told a doctor she had ceased volunteer work due to injury, as one claimed she had.

She said another doctor’s assertion she was starting an online business was “correct” as she made some products, such as soaps and scrubs, from home.

“I actually think this is a massive misunderstanding,” she told Ms Toppenberg.

The 37-year-old said she did not think she was capable of the physical work potential retail employers might expect of her, which is perhaps why a doctor might say she told them she felt as though she could not return to the industry.

She said there was only “so much” she could tell her doctors who did not give her the “opportunity to speak”, and the reports they compiled only included 70 to 80 per cent of her conversations with them.

“If I wanted to be dodgy, I wouldn’t be so public and open,” she said, referring to her creating and running a public website and Instagram page for The Little Store.

“I’m not a dodgy person. I have integrity.”

Neumuller told Ms Toppenberg she assumed that all government agencies, including Medicare, Centrelink – who she reported her earnings to weekly – and the ATO, were in discussions and she did not have to inform each, separately, of her business operations.

It was alleged Neumuller defrauded or attempted to defraud an insurer in January 2016 and knowingly made a false or misleading statement to WorkCover in March 2019, April 2019, and March 2020.