IGA Queen St Village Southport owner disputes Tracey Ransom’s $435,000 damages claim

An IGA owner being sued by a Gold Coast real estate agent who alleges she has severe injuries after slipping on a cherry tomato claims the plaintiff kept shopping after the alleged fall.

McGrath Estate Agents Southport realtor Tracey Ransom. Picture: McGrath Estate Agents

A green grocer owner being sued for $435,000 by a Gold Coast real estate agent who alleges she was left with severe injuries after slipping on a cherry tomato has refuted the claim.

The grocer is alleging the plaintiff suffered no injuries and continued her shopping after the alleged fall.

McGrath Estate Agents Southport realtor Tracey Ransom, 49, filed a lawsuit against the Trustee for JRG Family Investments Discretionary Trust, trading as Jones & Co Grocer IGA Queen St Village at Southport, in Southport District Court on January 22.

According to her statement of claim, previously reported by this masthead, Ms Ransom alleges she slipped on a loose cherry tomato while shopping on November 17, 2023, resulting in injuries amounting to a permanent disability.

The fruit and vegetable section at IGA Queen Street Village where realtor Tracey Ransom claimed to have slipped on a cherry tomato. Picture: Alex Treacy

She is seeking $435,212.90 by way of damages for the green grocer’s alleged breach of its duty of care to her.

The Trustee for JRG Family Investments Discretionary Trust, trading as Jones & Co Grocer IGA Queen St Village at Southport, has now filed its defence to Ms Ransom’s claim.

It says it denies Ms Ransom’s allegations because she “sustained no injury” from the alleged fall and was “able to get up from the floor immediately following the incident and continue with her shopping tasks”.

Any alleged injuries “predate the subject incident” or, alternatively, if she was injured, they haven’t, and wouldn’t, affect her “daily living or employment”, the defendant company argued in its filed defence.

It said even if there was a loose cherry tomato on the floor, which was not admitted, there was no negligence on the company’s behalf.

IGA Queen St Village owner, Trustee for JRG Family Investments Discretionary Trust, has denied Ms Ransom’s damages claim. Picture: Supplied

This was because staff were “continuously working in the vicinity of the fruit and vegetable section” at any given time, there was a policy in place in which all staff were to “continually monitor the area for spills and/or displaced fruit and vegetables”, and appropriate inspections and cleaning were made on the day in question, the defendant company argued.

As such, if a stray cherry tomato was on the ground (again, not admitted), it fell “a matter of seconds or minutes before the plaintiff encountered it”.

Therefore, the IGA owner argued, there was no “reasonable opportunity” for staff to identify and remove the risk.

If she fell, it was only onto her knee, and so therefore the injuries to Ms Ransom’s hip and shoulder could not have occurred as she claimed, the defendant company further argued.

In her response to the defence, Ms Ransom denied the assertion she sustained no injuries, denied her injuries predated her alleged fall, denied that they would not affect her day-to-day living and employment, and denied it was only her knee that contacted the ground.

She repeated her assertion the defendant company was negligent in allowing the stray cherry tomato to remain on the ground for her to slip on.

Originally published as IGA Queen St Village Southport owner disputes Tracey Ransom’s $435,000 damages claim