Rachel Margaret Dunn v CIC Allianz Australia Insurance Limited

The plaintiff's claim

1. The plaintiff claims damages for personal injuries she suffered in an incident in the early hours of the morning of 19 July 2015. She was a passenger in a taxi cab, driven by Mr Damon Goff, who subsequently died in February 2017.
2. The plaintiff alleges that she was injured when alighting from the said taxi cab outside premises in Toormina. As she was alighting, the plaintiff alleges that the vehicle suddenly accelerated, as a consequence of which, she fell and suffered severe injuries.
3. The plaintiff's claim is brought in negligence, the particulars of which are that the driver of the taxi: "(a) Failed to wait until the plaintiff had alighted from the taxi cab before he drove away; (b) Failed to warn the plaintiff that he was about to drive away as she was alighting from the taxi cab; (c) Failed to keep a proper lookout; (d) Drove at an excessive speed in the circumstances; (e) Failed to ensure that the plaintiff had alighted from the taxi cab before he drove away."
4. The defendant had filed a defence in which he denied negligence, but further pleaded that the plaintiff's injuries were suffered as a result wholly or partly of her own contributory negligence, particulars of which were as follows: "(a) Alighting from the defendant's vehicle whilst it was moving; (b) Failure to warn the defendant of her intention to alight the defendant's taxi; (c) Alighting from the defendant's vehicle whilst the engine was running and the vehicle was in motion."
5. The defendant also pleaded reliance upon Sections 5F, 5G, 5H and 5I of the Civil Liability Act 2002 ("CLA") (as amended). He pleaded that at the time of the accident the plaintiff was, or ought to have been, aware of the obvious risk of her actions in jumping from a moving vehicle.