Logo

He didn’t land in the ball pit.

A man was granted a nearly $1 million payout after tumbling from an indoor play center, severely injuring his spine and shoulder.

Abdul Qayom was with his family in late 2014 at the Xanadu Indoor Play Centre in Melbourne, Australia, when he heard his 5-year-old daughter crying.

She apparently had become stuck in the playground’s suspended tunnel. He attempted to climb the structure when the platform collapsed under him, and he plummeted over 10 feet to the concrete floor, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

His injuries left him incapable of working as a robot technician, where he earned over $800 weekly.

Qayom was later fired, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

According to court testimony, a staff member at the play center tended to Qayom after the accident and apologized. The unidentified person allegedly claimed that someone fell from the pastel-colored structure the day prior.

“Sorry about this,” the Xanadu employee said. “Actually, we told the owner to fix it and unfortunately he didn’t.”

During the court trial, Kate Dickinson, then co-owner of the establishment, did not take such an apologetic and rainbow-tinged approach.  She said a patron did not fall from the play area before Qayom, as the employee claimed.

Emails later revealed that Dickinson had helped Qayom with insurance information, hoping he had a “speedy claim,” according to the Herald.

The case ended in December 2018. The plaintiff was awarded the payout for “past and future economic loss.”

Comments
anonymous profile image
Powered by RoundtableBuilt on infrastructure designed for real-time media. Learn more at RTB.io.© Roundtable 2026. By using this site you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy