A woman’s bid for damages stemming from a road accident has been rejected after a judge found her injuries and mental illness pre-dated the crash.

Stanka Kostic fell from her bicycle while trying to evade a car that had entered a bike lane from a side road in Adelaide on August 10 2017. She was treated by an ambulance crew but was not taken to hospital. 

She later sought damages for injuries to her neck, back, shoulder and hip, and said she had suffered a decline in mental health because of the accident. 

But Judge Heath Barklay in the SA District Court has denied the claim against driver Tony Gwynne and insurer QBE, saying: “To the extent that the applicant denied having any significant pre-existing health problems prior to the accident, I do not accept her evidence. 

“Whether intentionally or not, I find that the applicant downplayed her pre-existing injuries.” 

Ms Kostic – who was 56 at the time of the crash – said she had suffered and would continue to suffer a reduced ability to engage in work, social, recreational and domestic activities. 

But her evidence was found to be inconsistent with that of two GPs, who said she “told them on various occasions about injuries to her shoulder, back, neck and hip that had been present for years prior to the accident”, the judge said. 

“The applicant had also been suffering from anxiety and depression, for which she was seeing a psychiatrist for years prior to the accident. 

“Her mental health problems were sufficiently serious to warrant her making an application for a disability support pension months before the motor vehicle accident.” 

The judgment said Ms Kostic conceded she applied for the disability pension in February 2017 “because she had depression, although she said, ‘Not like today, not like here.’ ” 

The court heard that in another disability pension application from January 2018, her GP stated she had back, neck and hip conditions, and major depression/anxiety. The stated dates of onset ranged from 2013 to “many years ago”. 

Ms Kostic had not worked since moving to Australia from Serbia in 2014, the court heard. 

Judge Barklay found any injuries arising from the road accident “would have resolved in no more than 12 weeks but more likely six weeks”, and said Ms Kostic’s “injury scale value” under the Civil Liability Act was too low to qualify for damages. 

See the judgment here.