It's a swimmer's nightmare but a Tasmanian man has won a $97,000 payout from a Tuggeranong swimming pool after injuring his leg when he became stuck in a grate.
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Longford man John Doolan was getting out of the pool at the Lakeside Leisure Centre on December 29, 2007, when his foot became trapped in a hole in the grating over a drain.
He sued the leisure centre in 2008 for pain and suffering, economic loss and medical expenses.
But the leisure centre's lawyers argued Mr Doolan contributed to the accident by failing to look out for his own safety.
In a judgment handed down in the ACT Supreme Court yesterday, Justice Anthony Besanko said the swimming pool centre was liable for Mr Doolan's injuries and ordered it to pay compensation. At a hearing in July, Mr Doolan told the court he sank into the pool drain to a point just below his knee and his leg was trapped in the grate for five minutes.
When the then-65-year-old finally extricated himself, he was in such distress his stepson thought he was having a heart attack.
After 10 minutes, a young employee known as ''Steph'' helped Mr Doolan, explaining that ''kids often take the drain covers''.
Mr Doolan suffered a gash to his shin and several cuts below the knee and told the court he still suffered continuing pain.
He said the injury had restricted his ability to walk and stand for long periods of time at his job as a security supervisor.
The court also heard Mr Doolan's doctor had advised him to retire at Christmas this year rather than work until he turned 70 in 2013.
Lawyers for the Lakeside Leisure Centre argued their client was not liable to Mr Doolan because children at the pool were the probable culprits for the missing grate, which was a crime, and the centre had no duty to protect Mr Doolan from criminal acts such as the theft of a grate.
Justice Besanko rejected these and other arguments, saying the missing piece of grating was a serious risk to swimmers and the leisure centre had inadequate supervision around the pool.
But he found Mr Doolan was also partly to blame for the accident and reduced his $139,599 payout by 30per cent.
Mr Doolan will receive $97,000, which includes $36,400 for future financial loss and $24,500 for pain and suffering.
Justice Besanko said Mr Doolan could be expected to live another 17.5 years and his pain and suffering would continue but rejected the suggestion that the Tasmanian man would have to retire in 2011 because of the pool injury.