Prisoner in damages claim after headbutting a wall while playing prison tennis
A TENNIS-playing prisoner is serving taxpayers with a lawsuit after he broke his neck running head-first into a wall while chasing the ball.
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A TENNIS-playing prisoner is serving taxpayers with a lawsuit after he broke his neck running head-first into a wall while chasing the ball.
The 46-year-old was playing doubles with other inmates on an indoor court at Ararat jail in February last year.
In a statement of claim before the County Court, Tevita Taholo says he was chasing down the ball when, in trying to avoid a chair bolted to the floor, he ran into the concrete wall surrounding the court.
“ … while chasing the tennis ball, he ran towards a chair bolted to the floor and then, in an effort to avoid hitting it, collided headfirst into the nearby concrete wall surrounding the tennis court, sustaining severe injury,” Tevita Taholo’s County Court statement of claim alleges.
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He claims he fractured his first vertebrae and suffered significant compression of the left vertebral artery and nerve injury, including left-side weakness, numbness and paralysis.
He also says he sustained a head injury; dizziness; loss of bladder and bowel control; severe speech disruption; and psychiatric injury.
According to the writ, a surgeon assessed him as satisfying a threshold level of impairment for claiming damages for pain and suffering.
Taholo, still in jail, claims the State of Victoria was negligent in locating the chair in a dangerous position with too little room between it, the court, and the wall; in failing to ensure the jail was safe and that the indoor court was of the usual dimensions and suitable for playing on; and in failing to warn him of the dangers.
He claims his injuries were caused by a breach of the duty of care the state owed him to take reasonable care to prevent foreseeable risks of injury.
He further claims the State failed to ensure the Hopkins Correctional Centre was safe, that the indoor tennis court was suitable for playing on and met usual dimensions of tennis courts, including those recommended by Tennis Australia, and failed to warn him of the dangers.
As a result of his injuries Taholo claims he will suffer ongoing loss and damage.
Taholo, who says he has worked as an airport baggage handler, a warehouse storeman, a winery worker, a fruit picker and a truck driver, also says his injuries have severely affected his capacity to work, and he is claiming damages for loss of future earnings.
“ (Taholo) has sustained severe injuries such that his capacity for employment is severely affected. Accordingly, he claims damages for such loss of earning of earnings in the future/loss of earning capacity,” his writ says.
Prior to being jailed Taholo says he has worked as an airport baggage handler, a warehouse storeman, a winery worker, fruit picker and truck driver.