A man who now lives with mental and physical disabilities after being punched by a crowd controller outside a club on a popular Hobart night strip has been awarded more than $12 million in damages.
Matthew Leonard was 28 years old in 2014 when he had a drunken altercation with crowd controller, Faleupolu Atileo, on a Saturday night outside Syrup nightclub in Salamanca Place, which has since closed down.
Mr Leonard has no recollection of the incident, and struggles to remember his life pre-injury.
The proceedings were brought on by the Public Trustee on his behalf against defendants Mr Atileo and his employer, SL Security Pty Ltd.
According to the judgement handed down by Acting Justice David Porter, Mr Leonard was heavily intoxicated on the night of the incident and was escorted away from the club and “ushered on his way”.
But after leaving, he returned to the area outside the club and eventually punched Mr Atileo, who punched him back.
Mr Leonard fell backwards and hit his head on the road.
Mr Atileo had argued he had pushed Mr Leonard but, after analysing CCTV and witness evidence, Acting Justice Porter came to the conclusion it had been a punch.
He also found Mr Atileo had not acted in self-defence.
“He could indeed have grabbed him, rather than punched him, or simply backed away fending him off if necessary. The defence of self-defence fails,” he said.
He also noted while Mr Leonard had been drunk, Mr Atileo was sober.
Victim led ‘active’ social life before event, judge says
On the night, Mr Leonard was treated by an ambulance crew at the scene and was then taken to the Royal Hobart Hospital, where he had an emergency cranionomy.
According to hospital notes, his blood alcohol level on admission at 06:45 was 0.35 per cent.
He was an inpatient at the hospital for 40 weeks, spending about two months in the intensive care unit and seven months in the acute rehabilitation unit.
Before he was injured, Acting Justice Porter agreed Mr Leonard, now 37, had been “an active man”, enjoying golf, four-wheel driving, fishing and shooting, and socialising, and had a wide network of friends.
He had previously worked as a labourer.
According to the judgement, he now requires “24-hour care … a diverse range of medication, machine-assisted breathing at night and behavioural regulation and support”.
In awarding damages of $12,490,640, Acting Justice Porter took into account loss of earning capacity, medical expenses and the care he will need into the future, as well as his pain and suffering.
The bulk of the damages awarded came from the estimated costs of “future attendant care”.
But he did find that, on the evidence, Mr Leonard bore about 20 per cent of total responsibility for his injury because he failed to exercise reasonable care for his own protection by being “unruly, uncooperative and antagonistic” in the lead up to the incident, which ultimately reduced the amount of damages awarded.
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