Ex-NRL star loses bid for $1m spinal injury payout
A former NRL player has lost a lawsuit against the game’s insurer after arguing he was eligible to claim a $1 million payout for a spinal injury that forced him into retirement.
Ethan Lowe, a former North Queensland Cowboys and South Sydney Rabbitohs player, launched the civil action against the insurer in November 2023 after his rugby league career prematurely came to an end in 2020.
The then-29-year-old left the game as a player after a “crusher” tackle that damaged his spine.
Lowe argued in the Federal Court lawsuit that he should be able to claim as he was insured under the policy and suffered a “permanent hemiplegia” – or a complete paralysis down one side of the body – in the tackle.
He said symptoms of the condition included numbness, poor balance, weakness and tingling.
They meant he struggled with everyday tasks like walking the dog, tying shoelaces or holding a cup steady, he argued.
But in a judgment handed down on Friday, Justice Ian Jackman disagreed, saying it was “clear on the evidence that Mr Lowe does not suffer from complete or near complete loss of movement down one side of the body”.
“(He) therefore does not suffer from hemiplegia in the proper medical sense of the word,” the judge said in dismissing the lawsuit.
Even on the most “expansive” interpretation of the condition, Lowe’s state did not satisfy the terminology of the condition despite the ex-player presenting to the court as an honest and reliable witness, he said.
While it was true that the ex-NRL player’s strength and physical capacity had been substantially reduced by the 2020 injury, his condition did not constitute one of “severe weakness”, Justice Jackman said.
Second-rower Lowe played 143 games for the two clubs between 2013 and 2020, as well as a single State of Origin game for Queensland in 2019.
The judge noted his career-ending injury was “undoubtedly” made worse by a previous spinal injury sustained in a match in 2016.
“(He) described an immediate tingling sensation throughout his body for a matter of seconds with a tingling numbness remaining in both hands,” Justice Jackman said of the previous incident.
“(He) played throughout the rest of the game, which will not come as a surprise to those familiar with the nature and challenges (not to mention the satisfactions) of contact team sports.”
Lowe previously praised a controversial crackdown on crusher tackles, which involve defending players pushing hard down on a ball-carrier’s neck or spine.
Penalties for the dangerous technique were introduced by the NRL in 2020.
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