A talented Gold Coast soccer player, who suffered extensive injuries after a car crashed into her, was awarded only a fraction of what her lawyers were asking for after a “joke” video of her twerking was tabled in court.
Meah Baldock-Davis suffered a collapsed lung and broken bones after she was hit from behind by a hatchback as she walked to her job at Pacific Fair Shopping Centre on July 4, 2019.
Meah Baldock-Davis was seeking $600,000 in compensation for the injuries she sustained in a freak car accident on the gold Coast in July 2019. Picture: Facebook.
The driver of a second vehicle, Adrian Popham, collided with the hatchback after exiting a side street near Pacific Fair, sending it hurtling towards Ms Baldock-Davis.
After Ms Baldock-Davis was flipped over the bonnet and windscreen, she hit the ground and was trapped under a wall that was damaged in the accident.
She lay on the ground for around 40 minutes before paramedics arrived and transferred her to hospital.
She spent four days with three fractured ribs, spinal injuries, multiple pelvic contusions, a collapsed lung, and a broken toe, according to court documents.
Ms Baldock-Davis was hit by the red hatchback pictured. Picture: Daily Mail
She spent four days in hospital with extensive injuries. Picture: Daily Mail
Before the accident, the 23 year old was playing Division 1 soccer on the Gold Coast, but had to stop because of her injuries.
Although she recommenced playing in 2022 with a Burleigh Heads club she said this was in Division 2 and she told the court that playing would leave her in crippling pain.
She said her back would “seize up”, leaving her “bedridden” and needing days to recover.
Ms Baldock-Davis took Mr Popham and his insurer AAI Limited to the Queensland Supreme Court for future economic losses of “no less than $600,000” due to the injuries she sustained.
But in a judgment delivered last week, she was awarded just a fraction of the amount.
The defence argued there were minimal lasting effects from Ms Baldock-Davis’ injuries, tabling evidence of her in a jumping castle, travelling, playing soccer, and twerking on a team trip.
They found footage of her heading a ball during one of the 18 games she played in her return to soccer — in a Division 1 team, not Division 2 as she said — and twerking while on a walker during an end-of-season team trip.
Ms Baldock-Davis said she tried to move on with her life after the accident. Picture: Facebook.
An orthopaedic surgeon called by the defence said footage of Ms Baldock-Davis heading a soccer ball showed she had “full range of movement” in her spine, and it was “inconceivable that a person with even minor neck problems would head a soccer ball as (she) was seen doing”.
Ms Baldock-Davis told Daily Mail Australia her efforts to “move on” with her life and “create memories with friends and family” were used against her in court.
“After struggling with pain for over two years my mental health was depleting and I decided to try and go back and play the sport I loved since I was a little girl,” she told the publication.
“Although I suffered from pain after playing, my mental state improved dramatically and I found myself using soccer as an outlet.”
She said the insurance company “used a 30-second video of me dancing and making jokes and equated that to me not having any pain at all”.
The video, taken from Ms Baldock-Davis’ Instagram account, showed her on a team trip in October 2022 to the Sunshine Coast.
In it, she can be seen using a wheelie walker on a “granny pub crawl”.
Court documents say the footage shows her sitting on the walker as it rolls backwards into a garden, causing her to fall on her back.
Ms Baldock-Davis’ credibility was heavily scrutinised in the Queensland Supreme Court. Picture: Facebook.
In another clip Ms Baldock-Davis can be seen twerking while holding the handles of the walker.
She then places her right foot on the walker and her hand on her lower back and exclaims “Oh, my back” before continuing to dance, while her teammates can be heard laughing.
In cross-examination, Ms Baldock-Davis said she was making a joke about her back, but “about how old people struggle to walk properly”, not indicating she did not have a serious back problem.
“I strongly believe that even though people have traumatic injuries they can still push through them to do the things they love,” she told the Daily Mail.
The court also heard that Ms Baldock-Davis’ brother posted a video in September 2019 – two months after the accident – of the pair racing and wrestling in a jumping castle, and in July 2022 she travelled to Bali for a holiday involving quad biking and rafting.
https://www.facebook.com/meah.davis.3/posts/pfbid02xuzZbigvqBkRbKucMenifuFg88JrRkbiUJ7rzqpy4ZUzQ12Whazxsuz2t8dXyxkul
The defence also argued Ms Baldock-Davis did not wear the neck brace long enough after being discharged from hospital. She was recommended to wear it for three months, but only wore it for two-and-a-half-weeks.
“My pain could change day to day due to things like if I was working or not,” she said.
Her capacity to work after the accident was also contested, with pay records showing her hours increased to an average of 34.20 per week when in the six months before the crash, she worked 10 hours a week less.
Ms Baldock-Davis said she had to leave two jobs, one in retail with a lot of bending, lifting, and standing, and one as a receptionist.
“Due the extent of my injuries and the pressure on my spine from sitting and standing for long periods I struggled. At the end of the day or week I would be in a lot of pain,” she told the Daily Mail.
Ms Baldock-Davis was walking along the footpath on Sunshine Boulevarde (pictured) when the accident occurred. Picture: Google Maps.
“It’s heartbreaking to know that because I tried to move on with my life, that was used against me,” she told the outlet.
Ms Baldock-Davis was awarded just over $40,635 in compensation – $21,510 in general damages, $5,943 in economic loss, $6,067 in special damages, and $5,000 in future special damages – but she says she “won’t be seeing a cent” and will likely be in debt due to legal fees.
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“I’m trying to be strong and have faith but it’s extremely difficult with so much uncertainty regarding my physical health,” she said.
“I’m still suffering from pain in my lower back that can be crippling.”