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A country road smash near Beerburrum spiralled into a five-year courtroom slugfest — with clashing medical experts, social media bombshells, and fierce arguments over whether a young woman’s pain was from the crash, or from her troubled medical history.
In August 2020, Taleisha Norman, then just 17, was driving her Mazda 3 northbound when Jennifer Hird – behind the wheel of a VW Tiguan – swung across the intersection straight into Norman’s path.
The impact left Norman shaken, reporting neck pain, vomiting and light-headedness at Caboolture Hospital that same day. She was diagnosed with whiplash and post-concussion syndrome and sent home.
The accident was the genesis of years of medical consultations, conflicting opinions and – eventually – a conflict in Brisbane’s District Court where Norman claimed ongoing neck and lower back pain had wrecked her career ambitions and left her unable to work full-time.
The court heard Norman had already been struggling with regular back pain, hospital visits for severe abdominal cramps, and mental health issues that saw her prescribed medicinal cannabis long before the crash.
She claimed the accident had left her with constant pain, limited her work prospects, and forced her into part-time retail work instead of the physically demanding truck-driving job she trained for.
At-fault driver Hird and her CTP insurer Allianz admitted fault for the crash.
Allianz disputed though, how much of Norman’s ongoing problems were truly caused by the accident.
It painted the picture of a young woman with a tangled web of pre-existing medical problems — from gynaecological disorders causing severe abdominal and back pain, to anxiety, insomnia and marijuana use — that had nothing to do with the crash.
The medical experts were poles apart. Norman’s specialist, spinal surgeon Dr Robert Labrom, assessed her with a 7% impairment for her neck and a 6% impairment for her back — blaming the crash for both.
His colleague Peter Sharwood – instructed by Allianz – on the other hand, assessed her with no impairment for either injury, finding no serious ongoing damage linked to the crash at all.
He pointed to her slim build and long-standing medical history as far more likely culprits for any lingering pain.
Judge Jennifer Rosengren set to work picking apart every corner of Norman’s life, health and career.
She found her evidence was at times “exaggerated” — noting that while she told doctors she lived with near-constant neck pain rated as 5 to 6.5 out of 10, her social media posts told a very different story. Photos showed her out enjoying music festivals and social outings, apparently pain-free. The judge ruled that while Norman had experienced genuine neck symptoms, they were intermittent and not as disabling as she claimed.
Her work history also came under heavy scrutiny. After finishing school, Norman dabbled in hospitality and retail, before getting her truck-driving licences and landing a job with Wilco Logistics in Cairns.
But she only lasted about five weeks driving heavy quarry trucks before she quit, citing pain. Later, she worked at Platypus Shoes, first part-time, then as an assistant manager — but gave up the promotion, saying standing and reaching aggravated her neck pain.
Allianz pushed back against Norman’s claims that the accident derailed her career, arguing she could still work and had plenty of residual earning capacity.
The judge largely agreed, awarding just $19,140 for past income loss, far less than the six-figure amount Norman originally claimed.
Future income loss was also scaled down. While the court accepted the crash limited her ability to drive trucks long-term, it found plenty of uncertainties in her career path, given her young age, previous mental health issues, and the fact she didn’t seem suited to heavy manual work anyway.
The $70,000 awarded for future economic loss was less than Norman had argued for.
With general damages of just $6,480 for pain and suffering, small allowances for medications and travel, and interest — the total award came in at just $103,198.
Norman v Hird and Anor [2025] QDC 44 Rosengren DCJ, 31 March 2025
Categories: car accident