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A woman who was hit by a roller coaster in a horrific incident in Melbourne has taken a positive step on her long road to recovery.
On Tuesday, a spokeswoman for the Royal Melbourne Hospital confirmed that Shylah Rodden’s condition was now classified as serious rather than critical.
It comes amid revelations that a man embroiled in a civil suit with the roller coaster victim is known to her.
Ms Rodden’s family took legal action Friday before the County Court of Victoria over injuries sustained by the 26-year-old in a traffic accident in January 2018.
Shylah Rodden (left) and Anthony Bright in 2015. Mr Bright has been listed as the defendant in a civil suit.
Anthony Bright is being sued by Shylah Rodden, who remains in hospital after a shocking roller coaster incident
Shylah Rodden’s condition is now listed as serious rather than critical
Daily Mail Australia can reveal that Lalor man Anthony Bright has been listed as the defendant in the civil suit.
Ms Rodden’s family filed a subpoena to protect her rights from the 2018 incident, claiming damages for injuries sustained in a transport accident resulting from ‘Mr Bright’s negligence, on or about January 29 of that year’ .
Mr Bright can be seen on social media with Ms Rodden in 2015, where the pair seemed at ease together.
The image caught the eye of another member of Ms. Rodden’s family, with a look at Mr Bright’s friends list, which revealed he was a partner with her brother Jason, who died just two months before the roller coaster incident.
Daily Mail Australia attempted to contact Mr Bright but received no response.
Ms Rodden’s father, Alan Rodden, also did not comment on the pending legal action.
Daily Mail Australia is not suggesting that Mr Bright has done anything wrong, just that he is listed as a defendant in the civil suit.
Shylah Rodden is fighting for life after being thrown 30 feet into the air when she was hit by a roller coaster at the Royal Melbourne Show last Sunday
Anthony Bright was known to Shylah Rodden when she accused him of harming her through negligence
On Friday, Arnold Thomas and Becker, practice manager Aki Munir, said Ms Rodden had been seriously injured by the “defendant’s negligence”.
“It (the action) concerns a transport accident and she sustained a number of significant injuries in that accident,” Ms Munir told the… Herald sun.
“The purpose of filing the subpoena is to preserve her rights should anything happen to her.”
Ms Munir also said Ms Rodden’s family could take legal action against the Melbourne Royal Show and the operators of the Rebel Coaster ride for negligence.
On the day she was hit by the roller coaster, Ms. Rodden was working in a friend’s booth on the show.
They had been on hiatus when the pair decided to take a few rides to pass the time.
It is clear that she dropped her phone while on the roller coaster and police believe Ms Rodden walked on the tracks of the high-speed ride to retrieve the device.
Her father told Daily Mail Australia at the time that his daughter had suffered life-changing injuries.
‘I can’t talk to my daughter. She will be in a coma for quite some time,” he said.
“The injuries are terrible. Awful. She has brain damage. It’s the pelvis, her arms, legs, back, neck – there’s almost nothing that isn’t broken. I just don’t understand how the hell so much damage was done.
“Even the doctors have said they haven’t seen this much in ages.”
Gruesome footage shows Shylah Rodden (pictured in black) moments from being hit by the Rebel Coaster at the Melbourne Royal show on Sunday
Ms Rodden was involved in three other accidents, including a serious car accident in February 2019, and another in which she overturned her car after hitting a truck in January 2021.
Police revealed last week that the roller coaster was traveling at 70 km/h when it was hit.
Ms Rodden had to learn to walk again after being involved in a horror crash in January 2021 when she overturned a car on Melbourne’s Western Ring Road after being plowed into a truck and car.
She was not wearing a seat belt and was thrown from the car onto the road.
The young woman survived the crash but needed significant rehabilitation to get back on her feet and with the support of her supportive parents, she managed to walk again.
Her grueling road to recovery came after another serious car accident in 2019.
A spokeswoman for the Melbourne Royal Show claimed that ‘the safety and well-being of our visitors to the show remains our number one priority’.
The safety watchdog WorkSafe is in the process of determining whether that claim is true.
The roller coaster that hit her reopened just days after the sickening incident.
Show management declined to comment on whether any new safety procedures had been adopted in the aftermath.
Mr Rodden (pictured) has been involved in three separate road accidents, in 2018, 2019 and 202
A spokeswoman for the Melbourne Royal Show claimed that ‘the safety and well-being of our visitors to the show remains our number one priority’ (pictured, the Royal Melbourne Show)