Brewing claim for tavern

A WOMAN has claimed she will never be able to work fulltime again after hurting her back moving between 150 and 180 cartons of beer.

Stephanie Kathleen Whitbourne is asking for more than $318,000 in damages after she hurt her back working at the Highland Park Family Tavern in September last year.

Court documents filed by Smiths Lawyers on behalf of the 31-year-old show she was working alone in the bottle shop and had been restocking shelves for about an hour when she felt a back twinge.

The documents claim Ms Whitbourne was forced to keep working as she was alone in the shop.

“On the date of the incident, the only respite from work duties available for (Ms Whitbourne) was to serve customers who attended the bottle shop, with any break being infrequent and lasting no more than approximately two minutes and occurring on no more than three occasions,” the documents said.

Ms Whitbourne attempted to return to work after the incident.

Neurosurgeon Neil Cochrane found that she had impaired or lost altogether her previous functions and has difficulty “standing, sitting and any having lifting or bending”.

The injuries mean Ms Whitbourne, who completed Year 10, is no longer able to work in a bottle shop due to the heavy lifting and amount of standing required.

Clerical work has also been deemed unsuitable.

“(Ms Whitbourne) is likely to struggle with sedentary work on a full-time basis,” the documents said.

The tavern is yet to lodge a defence to the claim.