A former accountant whose career ambitions were thwarted by a car accident has been awarded more than $493,000 in damages, despite lawyers' claims she tried to "hoodwink" them.
An ACT Supreme Court judgment published on Friday said Seanna Stanford was on track to eventually becoming a partner in a major firm when she was the victim of a rear-ender in 2013.
As a consequence of the crash, she sustained long-standing physical and mental injuries and could not maintain full-time work that required her to sit at a computer for extended periods of time.
The judgment said Ms Stanford had become a deckhand since the crash because, despite the physical nature of the work, it mostly didn't aggravate her symptoms.
Ms Stanford's lawyers claimed she should be awarded some $1.2 million in compensation, but they were met with a rebuttal offer of only about $101,000 from the defendants in the civil matter.
Barrister Jack Pappas, who appeared for both the other driver and her insurer, told the court Ms Stanford had tried to hoodwink them by overstating the extent of her injuries from the crash.
Ms Stanford's lawyers said the former accountant was unable to prune in the garden above waist height because of pain and discomfort.
Mr Pappas showed the court surveillance video that depicted the contrary; Ms Stanford pruning above shoulder and even head height beside a trailer full of cuttings, and appearing fully capable and comfortable. "She did not appear to be in discomfort," the judgment said.
Regardless, Acting Justice Robert Crowe said the evidence was "not particularly damning", rather "fairly innocuous" and the pruning only appeared to have lasted a short period of time.
"I am not prepared to infer that the plaintiff had done all of the pruning so as to fill the trailer as suggested by Mr Pappas," Acting Justice Crowe said.
"Given the presence of the plaintiff's father and [partner] that seems most unlikely in my view."
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Acting Justice Crowe said he had some reservations about Ms Stanford's evidence, in particular her description of how much assistance she needed because of her injuries prior to her court hearing.
But, he said Ms Stanford was ultimately a reasonably reliable witness who, for the most part, "responded appropriately to a long and rigorous cross-examination".
"I accept that she was hard-working and ambitious," Acting Justice Crowe said.
"There was a realistic prospect, at least, that she could have achieved partnership level with a firm such as Ernst and Young.
"In my view, the plaintiff has lost that potential as a consequence of the injuries and disabilities caused by the accident."
Acting Justice Crowe awarded Ms Stanford $493,168 to account for lost earning capacity and superannuation, among other things. He said he would hear from the parties about the issue of court costs.
