A Paralympian and former professional campdrafter has won a huge payout more than a decade after she was rendered a paraplegic during a competition.
Emily Tapp was just 19 when she fell from her horse during a campdraft competition at Ellerston in NSW back in January 2011.
She suffered a serious spinal injury that required months of hospital treatment and was left paraplegic.
Ms Tapp took legal action against the Australian Bushmen’s Campdraft & Rodeo Association (ABCRA), the organisers of the competition, arguing it had breached their duty of care.
Following a lengthy legal battle, the High Court on Tuesday ordered ABCRA to pay Ms Tapp $6.75m in damages.
The NSW Supreme Court had initially ruled that ABCRA had not breached its duty and Ms Tapp’s injuries were the result of “the materialisation of an obvious risk”.
Ms Tapp’s appeal of that judgment was also dismissed in 2020.
But the High Court found that a reasonable person would have foreseen the probability of harm occurring if the competition was not stopped until the arena could be safely assessed.
The judgment noted the campdraft organisers were urged to call off the event because the ground was becoming slippery and “unsafe”.
Four other riders had fallen that same day.
The organisers spoke with two of the riders who fell and delayed the competition to discuss the conditions, but it ultimately continued.
Ms Tapp then fell from her horse when she competed.
“Given that the probability of physical injury could be catastrophic, the competition could be easily stopped, and there was minimal social disutility of disadvantage to contestants who had already competed,” the judgment said.
“The respondent should have stopped the competition until the arena was inspected and found to be reasonably safe.”
The High Court justices said the risk of injury was “substantially elevated” because of the deterioration of the arena’s surface and the risk would not have been obvious for someone in Ms Tapp’s position.
Ms Tapp is now an elite Paralympic athlete, winning a silver medal in paratriathlon at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and gold medals in two world championships in 2017 and 2018.
