Cara Hyam was a Queensland-based flight attendant with Virgin Blue when the injury occurred in January 2005.

Ms Hyam was in a flight crew staying overnight in Canberra who were ferried by bus from Canberra Airport to Civic.

She was getting off the bus when her skirt became caught on a protruding seat lever.

The clothing ripped and she plunged down the stairs onto the cement footpath, landing on her knee and then falling backwards.

The fall caused Ms Hyam to bite her tongue and injure her knee and lower back.

She continued as a flight attendant for 15 months but her back symptoms, including pain extending into her left leg, did not stop.

Doctors prescribed her with pain relief and medical tests revealed a bulging disc.

Ms Hyam began light duties for the airline, which included unpacking boxes and hanging uniforms, but quit in May 2007 after doctors told her she would not be able to fly again.

She launched legal action, alleging the defendant, CBD Chauffeured Transport, was negligent and failed in a duty of care to passengers.

The court heard the company managed 23 vehicles and had contracts with Virgin and Qantas to transport crew to and from Canberra Airport.

It had also worked with foreign dignitaries, including visits by US presidents in 1996 and 2003.

The company admitted it had no designated person to inspect vehicles for safety hazards, instead relying on individual drivers and a yearly inspection at the motor vehicle registry to detect defects.

The company said it had not before or since had such an incident reported.

An engineering inspection of the vehicle in question reported the risk of clothing catching on the lever was low but foreseeable.

The expert told the court it would have cost about $100 to modify the handle so that it did provide a catch point.

Master David Harper found the fall had caused the bulging disc in Ms Hyam's back.

"There is no issue that the plaintiff was asymptomatic before her fall, or that she has had continuing back pain and other related symptoms since,'' Master Harper wrote.

''Whilst it has not been established that the defendant had actual knowledge of the risk, I am satisfied that the defendant should have known of it, that the risk was not insignificant, and that a reasonable person in the defendant's position would have taken one of the precautions I have just mentioned, which would probably have avoided injury to the plaintiff.''

Master Harper said he was satisfied CBD Chauffeured Transport committed a breach of its duty of care to Ms Hyam and that the breach resulted in injury.

He ordered that Ms Hyam receive $242,250 in damages.