No liability for needlestick injury in Queensland holiday apartment

The Queensland District Court has recently cleared an apartment manager of liability to the guest of a holiday apartment who sustained a needlestick injury in the apartment, finding that the risk of harm was not reasonably foreseeable. The Court indicated that if the guest had been successful, she would have been awarded damages of almost $500,000.

The guest was staying at an apartment rented via the popular accommodation website Wotif. She was injured by a discarded needle that was stuck in a crease in a staircase inside the apartment. She sued the manager (Wright v K B Nut Holdings P/L [2012] QDC 202).

Before the apartment was occupied by the guest, it had been cleaned by subcontractor cleaners, who had not discovered the needle. The guest was injured when she was cleaning the stairs, having felt that the apartment was not clean enough on her arrival.