The Star to pay over $150,000 following slipping incident
A man has been awarded a payment of over $150,000 after falling on water and slipping on the marble floor of The Star casino.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Radomir Krickovic, 58, claimed in the NSW District Court that he had been a “loyal customer” of the casino since its inception and The Star was “negligent” in failing to implement “reasonable safety precautions” on the day that the fall occurred.
Mr Krickovic claimed that he was walking across a “dark coloured inlaid section of a polished marble floor” located between the entrance to a buffet restaurant and the gaming area when he slipped backwards on a “puddle of spilt liquid” at about 3am on December 11, 2017.
In its defence, The Star had initially argued that the fall occurred as a “result of [Mr Krickovic’s] own alleged contributory negligence” with the argument later abandoned in the course of final submissions.
Judge Leonard Levy found that The Star had “curiously” denied that it had “care, control and maintenance obligations in respect of the premises” and denied that Mr Krickovic “slipped whilst walking across the floor of the premises on which spilt liquid was present”.
Judge Levy said the “extent of the defendant’s non-admissions and denials” were “somewhat puzzling” given the CCTV in place and an incident report filed by staff.
“When those latter matters were taken up with counsel for the defendant in final submissions, concessions were ultimately made concerning the defendant’s occupation of the premises, the plaintiff’s lawful presence on the premises, the defendant’s maintenance obligations in relation to the premises, and the existence of a duty of care to persons on the premises,” Judge Levy ruled.
“Those concessions were made appropriately but should have been made well before the hearing in order to limit the true issues in dispute.”
Security surveillance camera operator played a key role
The incident was apparently witnessed by a security surveillance camera console operator who then contacted security staff at the casino. After being treated by an in-house paramedic, Krickovic was transported to St Vincent’s Hospital.
As a result of the fall, Mr Krickovic claimed that he sustained “multiple soft tissue injuries” to his back.
Judge Levy ruled Mr Krickovic, who had previously worked as an entertainer playing the piano-accordion in restaurants, – was not able to complete his physical tasks in his day to day work of the building industry as a result of the fall, and therefore suffered economic loss.
He was paid out a total of $150,144.15 plus legal costs.
In other Star news, the group is also hoping for a positive outcome from the NSW government’s Independent Planning Commission over its proposal for a new hotel tower at its Pyrmont site, which is to be operated by the Ritz-Carlton.
Following three years of going through the development application process, the initial plan was rejected on height issues.
“Our attempts to boost tourism through the construction of a Ritz-Carlton hotel and apartments met with a disappointing recommendation to reject from the Department of Planning,” Star Entertainment Group Chairman Mr O’Neill said.
“We can only hope the challenges we have faced trying to secure approval do not translate into an opportunity missed for Australian tourism.”
Star Entertainment chief executive Matt Bekier said that it had been a “mixed year” for the business, which was impacted by domestic consumer sentiment and global economic softening.
“The international VIP business produced mixed results. While we delivered 10 per cent growth in unique visitation on the 2018 year, normalised revenue was down 30.7 per cent on the previous corresponding period due to substantially lower spend per customer,” Mr Bekier said.
