A man, who was stripped of more than $1.5-million in damages awarded after he fell from a Central Coast train, has won an appeal to have the money restored.
Corey Fuller-Lyons was eight years old when he suffered severe injuries, when he fell from a train soon after it left Morriset station in 2001.
He successfully sued the state of New South Wales and the train’s operator for negligence, but the state won an appeal against its liability.
That decision was today overturned in the High Court, after finding the initial appeal judge erred.
During the first hearing, the court found it was most likely Fuller-Lyons had been caught in the train’s doors as they closed, pinning him with half of his body hanging outside.
He fell as the Newcastle-bound train was travelling about 100-kilometres per hour.
The state was held responsible for the failure of a railway employee to keep a proper lookout before signalling for the train to depart.
Morisset station has a curved platform and guards cannot see the front carriage and would rely on an ‘all-clear’ signal from a station assistant.