A teacher has launched legal action against her school after she was injured while playing basketball in high heels.
Derva Josic, a teacher at Noble Park English Language School in Melbourne is suing the Department of Education for negligence claiming it permitted her to wear heeled boots instead of sports shoes at a staff retreat.
She also claimed she wasn’t told she didn’t have to take jump shots.
The Herald Sun reported Ms Josic has commenced action in the County Court of Victoria against her employer through WorkSafe.
The incident occurred at a professional development session in 2017.
Ms Josic claimed her employer allegedly failed to instruct her to wear sports shoes, didn’t advise her to remove her normal shoes before playing basketball and didn’t instruct her how to safely shoot a basket in non-sport shoes.
She also claimed she wasn’t informed she didn’t need to, or should not jump when shooting.
Ms Josic was injured after she landed awkwardly on her right foot and rolled her ankle after taking shots at the basket.
A teacher is suing the Department of Education for negligence claiming it permitted her to wear heeled boots instead of sports shoes at a staff retreat (stock image)
The Department of Education objected to expert evidence from forensic engineer Bill Contoyannis (pictured)
She’s also entitled to claim compensation for a workplace injury under WorkSafe laws.
A five to seven day jury trial was to commence on July 24.
An objection was made by the Department of Education to expert evidence from forensic engineer Bill Contoyannis.
His online biography describes Mr Contoyannis as a qualified mechanical and biomedical engineer and ergonomist.
Mr Contoyannis has given expert evidence in a number of court cases.
Judge Aine Magee concluded the two reports by Mr Contoyannis were inadmissible as his opinions were not based on his specialised knowledge.
Ms Josic has commenced legal action in the County Court of Victoria (pictured) against the Department of Education after being injured playing basketball at a staff retreat
She ruled the opinions of Mr Contoyannis ‘venture into the area of speculation as to the circumstances of the incident’.
She said evidence as to the ‘force of landing in shoes’ needed to be based on tests, not only opinion.
‘Mr Contoyannis did not conduct any tests other than measuring the heel height of the boots worn by the plaintiff in 2017,’ Judge Magee said.
She also refused to admit the view of Mr Contoyannis the chance of injury would have been greatly reduced by the wearing of sports shoes, and said this was a ‘mere comment’.
‘There is insufficient evidence to establish that Mr Contoyannis holds any specific skills, knowledge or expertise which would enable him to provide an expert opinion about sport shoes,’ Judge Magee said.
A Department of Education spokesman said: ‘Schools make every effort to ensure student and staff safety during all activities that take place as part of teaching and learning programs.’
