Perisher Valley (NSW), Australia – An Australian judge has ordered Perisher Ski Resort to pay nearly AUD $1.2 million (approximately $1.13 million US) to a Sydney area doctor injured in a ski lift incident.

Ghita Nair-Smith, 54, was loading a chairlift at Perisher on July 18, 2003 when the chair came around the lift’s lower terminal bullwheel with its safety restraining bar lowered. A lift attendant swung the bar upward before Nair-Smith loaded the lift.

What happened thereafter is the subject of debate. The ski resort contends that the lift operator raised the safety bar in time for Nair-Smith to safely occupy her seat, but that she moved out of the proper loading position when she overreacted to the situation. Nair-Smith contends that the raising of the safety bar caused the chair to begin to swing from side to side. In either event, both sides agree that the handrail on the side of the chair struck Nair-Smith between the buttocks, resulting in an injury to her groin area.

In July, Justice Robert Beech-Jones found the ski resort negligent and ordered both parties to come to terms regarding damages. Last week, after they were unable to come to a mutually agreeable figure, he awarded Nair-Smith AUD $1,192,597.50 plus interest.

The court found that the collision has prevented Nair-Smith from fully carrying out the functions of her occupation as a general practitioner. It also agreed with her contentions that the injury has resulted in a psychologic pain disorder, has interfered with sexual relations, and that she would need a house cleaner and domestic assistant for herself and her family, as well as a kitchen remodeling to accommodate her injury.