ACT Supreme Court awards man $90k after Burrinjuck Dam 'tubing' injury

Jack Glover successfully sued for negligence, claiming a boating accident had aggravated an undiagnosed spinal condition.

Mr Glover, who was 12 at the time, went to tubing with his aunt's partner, Daniel Fuller, at Burrinjuck Dam in 2015.

While he was being towed behind the boat, the inflatable tube, known as a biscuit, flipped.

He has an ongoing back injury, which he attributes to the incident.

In an ACT Supreme Court judgement published last month, Associate Justice Verity McWilliam said the claim focused on whether Mr Fuller, who was driving the boat at the time, had breached his duty of care and if the accident had actually caused the injury.

"That may sound straightforward. However, without wishing to appear flippant by adapting a line from Shrek, the animated ogre in the film of the same name: this case is like an onion; it has many layers," Associate Justice McWilliam said.

Mr Glover brought the case to court in 2018.

After the accident, Mr Glover felt mild discomfort at first, with increasing pain in the months afterwards. It then took three years for the underlying condition to be diagnosed.

Mr Glover had told the court that when the tube capsized, he continued to hold its handles wrenching his back.

He said this caused "a clicking sensation in his back and transient pain".

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Associate Justice McWilliam found the boat was driving faster than it should have been, and the boy was not properly instructed on hand signals or what to do if the tube capsized.

Mr Glover was awarded almost $93,000.

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