Four Queensland women are taking legal action against Woolworths over injuries they allegedly suffered while shopping or working at the supermarket.

In separate claims filed in the Queensland Supreme and District courts in the past month, Woolworths Limited is being sued for a total of more than half a million dollars.

Three women claim they were injured in slip and fall incidents and one woman, a former bakery worker, alleges she hurt her shoulder when lifting and carrying large boxes of cookie dough.


Michelle Bradley, 41, claims she fell over on a wet floor in the fruit and vegetable section of Woolworths at Westfield Garden City in November 2009. She is seeking an undisclosed sum for soft tissue and ligament damage to her right knee. She claims Woolworths staff failed to erect a warning sign failed to inspect and clean the floor where customers were walking.

Dahlene Critchley is suing for personal injuries she claims she suffered at Woolworths at Taigum, in Brisbane's north. She claims she slipped on a piece of lettuce in the produce section and fell, injuring her knee and ankle, in October 2007. For pain and suffering, medication, future economic loss and future expenses she wants $234,762.

Maria Reina, 63, is claiming $115,000 to compensate for shoulder, elbow and thumb injuries she sustained when she slipped on a wet floor. Her caim says Woolworths failed to coat their floor with an "anti-slip substance", instead using a floor coating that was "cosmetically pleasing".

Susan Camilleri is suing for $252,501 in breach of contract and or negligence after she says she was left with a shoulder injury while working in the bakery section of Woolworths at Palm Beach on the Gold Coast.

Camilleri claims as part of her job in 2007 she was required to lift several boxes of cookie dough, each box weighing 13.5kg.

The boxes were in a customer trolley and she was tasked with lifting them and walking with them for a short distance. The position of the cookie dough boxes in the trolley meant she could not bend her knees, she claims, preventing her from using proper handling techniques.

Woolworths Limited have 28 days from the day the women's claims were filed to respond to the lawsuits.

Source: Weekly Times