In Australia, cyclist wins $675,926 from city council — ABC News Australia

In the case of a cyclist from Brisbane, Australia, the Court of Appeal ordered the Brisbane City Council to pay Victor George Dennison $675,926 in compensation, as well as interest and legal costs. The man lost his left eye and suffered a traumatic brain injury after falling onto a metal stake from a temporary fence on a footpath in 2009, ABC News Australia reports.

Accident during a pre-dawn ride

In December 2009, Dennison, who was 64 at the time, was cycling before dawn along a footpath on Zillmere Road in the Aspley area. He collided with a mesh barrier, fell from his bicycle and struck a metal stake used to secure the fence.

The stake pierced the man’s eye socket, destroyed his left eye and caused an orbital fracture and a traumatic brain injury. Council workers had installed the fence the day before to protect a newly poured section of concrete footpath.

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Appeal overturned the previous ruling

In May, Supreme Court Justice Lincoln Crowley ruled in favour of the Brisbane City Council. He concluded that the council could be liable for the injuries, but the civil liability law set a higher threshold for such a finding.

Dennison, now 80 and suffering from frontotemporal dementia, appealed the decision; his wife represented him in the case. A panel of three Court of Appeal judges overturned the previous ruling, finding that the council had failed in its duty to protect people even under the higher standard of liability.

The court noted the absence of warning and reflective signs, directions for an alternative route and local lighting. Justice Shane Doyle said the council’s team leader had acknowledged the need to install signs at the site indicating a safe passage around the works at night.