A woman left paralysed after being “catapulted” from her bed during sex has lost a High Court bid for seven-figure damages against the bed supplier.
Claire Busby, 46, of Berkshire, suffered a serious injury to her spine after falling from the super king size double divan in August 2013.
The businesswoman had claimed the bed was in a “defective state” at the time of her accident and took legal action against Berkshire Bed Company, trading as Beds Are Uzzz, which supplied it.
The firm denied liability for Busby’s injuries and contested the case, arguing that it had been properly assembled.
Busby, who used to work in the property industry, was injured a week after the bed’s delivery. She told the court she had been kneeling in the middle of the bed and had just finished performing a sex act when she decided to move position.
She said she then “swung her legs” round to face the top of the bed before laying backwards – at which point, she claims, she was “catapulted” from the bed and landed on her head.
Busby alleges that the two divans which made up the base of the bed were not properly fastened together and two “gliders” – or feet – were missing from the end of the bed, creating a height difference between one end and the other.
Lawyers for the bed company argued it was properly assembled at the time of delivery and that, even if the two gliders were missing, that would not have caused the bed to lose balance in the way suggested by Busby.
Announcing his decision and rejecting her case, Judge Barry Cotter said: “As a result of the matters set out above the claim in relation to this tragic accident, which is what I find it was, a simple accident, fails.”
The judge said he was not satisfied the bed was “defective”, even taking into account “reasonably foreseeable misuse”.
He added: “It required a most unfortunate and unusual combination of positioning on the bed and movement which I do not believe would have been foreseeable by any reasonable person prior to the incident.”
Richard Manders, director of Berkshire Bed Company, said: “We are delighted the court has ruled in our favour.
“We are sorry that Ms Busby was injured and we wish her and her family well for the future.
“We look forward to continuing to supply quality products to our many valued customers.
“Our beds and mattresses can be trusted to provide comfort and are perfectly safe.”