Diner sues Spirit House restaurant for $311k after falling and hurting her buttock and leg

An award-winning Queensland restaurant has been sued for hundreds of thousands in damages after a diner slipped and hurt her buttock and leg.

Spirit House restaurant is located in rainforest at Yandina on the Sunshine Coast. Picture: Lachie Millard

An award-winning Sunshine Coast restaurant has been sued for damages including the cost of “Zen spray”, pilates and massages after a diner hurt her buttock and leg in a fall.

Le Marmiton Pty Ltd, trading as The Spirit House Restaurant, is being sued by Wurtulla teacher Anne Louise Dale for $311,765 in the Maroochydore District Court.

Mrs Dale alleges she has spent $91.96 on “Zen spray” as part of her “compensatable expenses”, and expects she will need $12,166 worth of pilates over the next three years and 36 massages worth $4320 for her ongoing treatment.

She claims she tore muscles and hurt tendons around her right hamstring and buttocks when she slipped on her way to the bathroom at the Yandina restaurant and cooking school on February 10 last year.

Spirit House is one of Queensland’s top restaurants. Picture: Lachie Millard

Her claim states that as she walked along a polished concrete external passageway, which was wet due to rain, her left knee went down to the floor as she fell and her right leg shot “out to the front”.

She claims she “is no longer able to undertake any physical activity with the children that she is teaching”, has pain in the right buttock when sitting, loses strength in her right leg when walking for any period of time, and has difficulty going up stairs or walking up hills for any extended period.

She claims she has difficulty bending down to put her shoes on and has difficulty dressing herself and has been unable to return to her pre-accident hobbies including hiking and camping, stand-up paddle-boarding, cycling and walking.

She alleges she experiences “ongoing pain, discomfort, inconvenience and restriction of movement in her right buttock and leg”.

The diner says she fell on wet polished concrete at the award-winning restaurant, injuring her buttock and leg. Picture: File/Lachie Millard

According to the damages claim filed in court on December 9, she states her injuries include a “full thickness partial tear at the proximal musculotendinous junction of the semimembranosus”, and a “partial avulsion of the semimembranosus insertion”.

She alleges that the restaurant was negligent in that it breached its duty of care to her by failing to take precautions such as installing non-slip matting, closing the passageway or inspecting it when it became “inundated with water”.

“The passageway posed a risk of physical injury to entrants to The Spirit House Restaurant because of the slippery nature of the passageway created by the inundation of rain,” the claim states.

Le Marmiton Pty Ltd is owned by Brierty Holdings Pty Ltd, which is owned by brothers Acland and Blake Brierty, as well as Ni Ketut Laxmiwati and Ni Nyoman Ramawati, company documents state.

The negligence lawsuit is in its early stages and no defence has been filed to the claims. No court date has been set.

Ms Dale’s solicitor Michael Callow told The Sunday Mail that it was not appropriate for her to comment. The Spirit House did not respond to requests for comment.