On the same day Sydney woman Sangeeta Guru won more than $90,000 in court after slipping on a grape in a Coles supermarket, a Melbourne man has made a similar claim.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Except Rakesh Dhody didn't grapple with a grape. He slipped on not just a banana skin, but the whole banana.
Back in April, he says, after visiting his sick wife in hospital, he popped into the Coles at Tarneit in the western suburbs, near his home. The 63-year-old pensioner stood on the banana on the floor, fell, and got his finger jammed in some shelving.
"Various Coles staff and eye-witnesses approached me while I was in pain... and helped." He was, he says, in "extreme pain". A nurse from a nearby medical centre was summoned and she got him into see an emergency GP. His finger was fractured.
Now Mr Dhody wants to take Coles to court and to the cleaners for his misfortune. Having started corresponding with the supermarket chain's parent company, Wesfarmers, some months ago, he now wants $50,000 from them - "non-negotiable for the stress, pain, suffering and run-around."
Wesfarmers have done an internal investigation at the Tarneit store and while refusing to admit liability have offered, in writing, to pay Mr Dhody "any reasonable out of pocket expenses incurred as a direct result of this incident." A company spokeswoman said it was waiting for him to respond to the offer.
Mr Dhody, meanwhile, says he has not responded yet because his expenses have been minimal. As a pensioner he is eligible for cheap medical services and pharmaceuticals. He says he incurred some taxi costs because his injury left him unable to drive. He cares for his sick wife but his injury made it hard to "do day to day tasks such as clean dishes, washing, clean the house etc."
He says he suffered "extreme" lack of sleep and went to a hospital hand therapy unit for six months.
In Sydney Ms Guru was awarded the $90,130 damages because a NSW District Court judge found that Coles was negligent and failed to address the risk of harm posed by grapes on the floor. Ms Guru slid on the grape and injured her knees and back. Her original claim was for $1m.
Coles unsuccessfully argued it was partly her own fault because she should have been looking where she was walking. But the NSW judge said that was not reasonable in a supermarket "where goods were attractively displayed to induce customers to select particular items for purchase."
Mr Dhody vowed to take Coles to court if they not pay him what he wanted. " It is very genuine incident and claim, and I had sleepless nights for many weeks."
