Relax - Woman sues over fall at Changi Airport

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She was walking towards the airport departure gate to board a flight to Hong Kong when she said she stepped on a loose carpet slab and fell.

Ms Stephanie Costonis, an American citizen, suffered injuries to her neck, right wrist, right knee and ankle.

Since the incident at Changi Airport Terminal 3 three years ago, she spent more than $125,000 on medical treatment - including knee surgery - alone, she claimed in documents filed with the High Court.

Ms Costonis, the vice-president of DHL Express (Singapore), is now suing the Changi Airport Group (CAG) for negligence.

Through her lawyer S. Palaniappan, she is seeking compensation of $128,000 for medical expenses, physiotherapy treatment and transport expenses incurred as a result of her injuries.

She is also asking for damages for future medical expenses estimated at $141,000, loss of future earnings, loss of earning capacity, and future transport expenses.

Apart from these, Ms Costonis is claiming provisional damages till the year 2026 in the event that her knee condition deteriorates and requires additional operations.

The CAG has denied her allegations in defence papers filed by its lawyers K. Anparasan and Sivarajan C. Sivalingam.

It is also seeking to bring in a third-party - an independent contractor it hired to maintain its premises - into the lawsuit. It claims the contractor was negligent and had breached its contractual obligations.

A pre-trial conference was held on Tuesday morning.

In a statement of claim filed on Nov 21 last year, Ms Costonis said she was hurt after a fall on Dec 3, 2008. She had stepped on an unsecured floor panel on her way to her departure gate at the terminal.

In a medical report, Dr P. Thiagarajan, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon in private practice, stated that Ms Costonis first saw him for her injuries 10 days after her fall.

She had pain and swelling in her right knee, was unable to use her right wrist due to the pain and also had difficulty walking.

As her condition did not improve, he performed surgery on her on Jan 9, 2009.

In his medical report dated Sep 8, 2009, he stated that the main problem was still her right knee, where she suffered pain and swelling. She was not able to exercise as much as she used to before the alleged fall.

Dr Thiagarajan stated that her current disabilities were still bothering her despite having undergone surgery because of muscle weakness. He said the muscles in her thighs had become wasted.

He also assessed that it was likely that the injury would inevitably lead to degenerative changes, recurrence of pain, swelling and disability.

Ms Costonis claims that there were no warning signs displayed at the airport premises to warn visitors about the unsecured floor panel and it was not obvious that the floor panel was loose.

She claimed that it was the duty of the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) to ensure that the airport was safe and free from unusual dangers for visitors, but it had failed to take reasonable care to do so.

Liabilities

She claimed that CAG had taken over the management and operation of Changi Airport and its passenger terminals from CAAS with effect from July 1, 2009, including the transfer of the regulatory body's property, rights and liabilities. And this meant that CAG was now liable for her injuries and losses.

In its defence, CAG said an independent contractor CAAS had hired from July 2007 was responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of the floor panels. Any obligation CAAS had to ensure the safety of visitors at the airport was fulfilled in its engagement of the independent contractor which took over such duties.

CAG claimed that it was the contractor's duty to ensure that all floor panels in the airport were properly secured and claimed the contractor had also failed to warn visitors about the loose floor panel.

CAG also claimed that Ms Costonis herself had been negligent and caused her own injuries. This she had allegedly done by failing to take reasonable care for her own well-being, failing to pay sufficient attention to her surroundings and to keep a proper look-out, and failing to take preventive measures or evasive action to avoid the alleged incident.

This article was first published in The New Paper.

Woman sues over fall at Changi Airport

By Amanda Yong, The New Paper | Fri, Jan 20 2012

The DHL vice-president is asking for $269,000 in compensation after she stepped on a loose carpet slab at Terminal 3 and fell.