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The City of Greater Bendigo and the family of a four-year-old girl killed by a tree limb have settled a legal dispute.
Kristy Thomson filed a writ in September 2015 seeking compensation after the death of her daughter, Patiya May Schreiber.
City of Greater Bendigo chief executive officer Craig Niemann said a confidential out-of-court settlement had been reached.
“The City of Greater Bendigo respects that confidentiality while recognising the loss of a child is unimaginable to most people and extends its deepest sympathies to Ms Thomson and her family as they continue to rebuild their lives following this tragedy,” he said.
The settlement was reached late last year.
The writ claimed negligence on behalf of the council, which inspected the tree at Rosalind Park about three months before the limb fell on December 30, 2013.
Patiya was killed, and Ms Thomson was seriously injured.
Failure to remove the tree, failure to prune the tree and inadequate above-ground inspections were mentioned in the writ.
There were further claims the risk posed by the tree was not adequately assessed, and the City of Greater Bendigo failed to have a proper inspection system.
“At the 19 September 2013 inspection of the tree, the arborist employed by the defendant inspected the tree from the ground, did not conduct an above ground inspection of the tree and incorrectly assessed the tree as being structurally sound,” it was written.
“Between the… inspection of the tree and the incident, no further inspection of tree was carried out by the defendant; no pruning or other remedial work in respect of the tree was carried out.”
A coronial inquest finalised in September 2015 found an above ground inspection of the gum tree would likely have uncovered problems with the limb, and would have led to its pruning or removal.
The inquest found the City of Greater Bendigo’s lack of a management plan was not a “causal factor”.
Patiya was remembered at her funeral in January 2014 as a little girl who was strong-minded and determined, but always happy, with a gorgeous smile and an infectious giggle.
She loved pink and purple and colourful butterflies and was energetic, but always stopped to say, ‘I love you.’
More than 300 of Patiya’s family and friends attended the service in Eaglehawk.