Fuchs v Coles [2026] NSWSC 948: damages evidence after a supermarket slip

The accident, injury and orders

The plaintiff slipped on 1 November 2020 in aisle 6 of the Coles supermarket at Bondi Junction. The judgment records a red-tinged oily liquid beneath or near a partly stocked roll cage, with another roll cage affecting the route around a pillar. Liability was admitted shortly before the hearing, and the trial proceeded on damages. The Court made the following findings and orders.

• The injury was an avulsion tear of the right hamstring tendon.
• Surgery on 1 December 2020 involved hamstring repair and sciatic nerve neurolysis; the judgment also records a minor traction injury to the sciatic nerve.
• The Court accepted ongoing pain and restrictions despite treatment, rehabilitation and later procedures.
• Judgment was entered for $907,375.50 after the agreed 10% deduction, and Coles was ordered to pay the plaintiff’s costs.

How the damages figure was assembled

The total was not a single valuation attached to the diagnosis. It was the sum of separate heads of damage supported to different degrees by the evidence. Before the agreed reduction, the Court assessed $1,008,195.

• Non-economic loss: $297,480, assessed at 37% of a most extreme case under section 16 of the Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW).
• Past out-of-pocket expenses: $65,000; future out-of-pocket expenses: $55,772.
• Past loss of earnings: $45,000; future diminution in earning capacity: a $350,000 buffer.
• Past care: $67,123; future care: $127,820.
• Subtotal: $1,008,195; less the agreed 10% contributory-negligence reduction: $907,375.50.

Why business income did not automatically prove personal earning loss

The plaintiff was an architect and heritage consultant who also held an interest in a business. The Court did not accept most of the claimed past economic loss merely from company revenue, profit or changes in taxable income. It distinguished salary for personal work from dividends or returns attributable to capital and the work of other people. The Court accepted $45,000 for the 2022 financial year, but rejected a simple assumption that every reduction in the business position was the plaintiff’s personal loss.

• A self-employed person may need records showing the work personally performed before and after injury.
• Company turnover and profit do not, by themselves, show what the injured person would have earned.
• Salary, dividends, ownership returns and contributions from other workers should be identified separately.
• Tax returns, accounts, client files, time records and evidence from accountants or colleagues may need to tell one consistent story.

The future earning-capacity buffer

The Court accepted a residual incapacity that limited the plaintiff to about 24 hours of work each week spread over five or six days. It was not persuaded that she would necessarily stop working five years earlier, and found that managed hours could allow work to age 70. Because a future financial consequence was established but could not be calculated precisely, the Court used a $350,000 buffer rather than pretending the evidence supported an exact weekly equation.

• Medical restrictions must be connected to the actual tasks, hours and commercial demands of the person’s work.
• A reduced capacity can be real even when a claimant continues working or remains involved in a business.
• A buffer is not automatic; the evidence still needs to establish a future economic disadvantage.
• The amount remains specific to the evidence and assumptions accepted in the particular case.

Practical lessons for supermarket and public liability claims

The case does not mean that a fall in a supermarket automatically establishes liability or produces a similar award. Liability was admitted in this proceeding, and the parties also agreed to a 10% reduction. In another case, the existence and duration of a spill, inspection systems, warnings, CCTV, incident reports, causation and the injured person’s conduct may all remain disputed.

• Report the incident promptly and ask for a copy or reference number for the incident report.
• Preserve photographs, witness details, the precise location and a written request to retain CCTV where possible.
• Seek appropriate medical attention and give a consistent account of how symptoms began.
• Keep separate records for treatment costs, lost income, work restrictions and care needs.
• Read any admission, denial or settlement proposal carefully; it may deal with liability, damages or both.

About this case note

This article summarises the published judgment delivered by the Supreme Court of New South Wales on 7 August 2026. It is general information only and is not personal legal advice. Court decisions turn on their own facts, evidence, law and procedural positions. The official judgment should be read for the complete reasoning.