Farm sued over injury
Worker claims bananas crushed shoulder
A PASSIONATE outdoorsman claims his life has been ruined after a colleague at a Far North banana farm incorrectly cut down a tree causing him to be crushed by a 100kg bunch.
Sydney man Jaime Longbottom, 34, was working at L & R Collins farm at Lakeland in 2016, saving money to fund his travels, when the incident occurred.
He has since undergone a full shoulder reconstruction, along with suffering a hip injury, and despite physiotherapy he has a permanently frozen shoulder, he claims in court documents.
The former labourer has launched a claim for just over $1 million against the farm, claiming they were negligent and poorly trained their staff.
In his claim, filed in the Cairns Supreme Court, Mr Longbottom alleges his colleague incorrectly cut the branch, making a large incision which caused the tree and branch to fall, rather than a small cut which would have seen it lower towards him.
Speaking outside court from Sydney Mr Longbottom said he had been unable to work since.
“I don’t have a life in Sydney,” he said. “I was an outdoor person – I loved surfing, fishing, camping.
“I’m not a computer person, I’m not a desk person, I like the outdoors.”
Mr Longbottom’s lawyer Adam Tayler, from Turner Freeman Lawyers, said his client’s life “had been turned upside down”.
“The options for him workwise are very limited,” he said.
The $1,094,478 claim includes medical costs, past and future economic loss.
Legal representatives for L & R Collins are yet to file any documents in court.
A court date is yet to be set.
I WAS AN OUTDOOR PERSON – I LOVED SURFING, FISHING, CAMPING
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