Di Patston embroiled in spider bite lawsuit before joining ARU

The former Wallabies staffer embroiled in the Kurtley Beale controversy once tried to sue an employer for hundreds of thousands of dollars after she alleged she was bitten by a spider while getting coffee.

Documents lodged with the Queensland Supreme Court state Di Patston had been working as an administrative officer with the then Maroochy Shire Council on Queensland's Sunshine Coast in 2003 when she alleged she was bitten by a spider on the upper thigh.

The court documents, which show Patston was employed 11 years ago by a local shire council, appear to contradict Wallabies coach Ewen McKenzie's statement that she had previously worked for 13 years for the Queensland Government.

The documents were part of a legal claim Patston took in 2008 alleging that as a result she had suffered major depressive episodes and panic  and lymphoedema, which involves the failure of the lymphatic system, a condition whereby parts of the body become swollen. Patston's lawyers alleged in a statement of claim that she was bitten while attending a meeting in a recently renovated building in June 2003.  The statement of claim said she had looked into a cupboard in a kitchen area seeking to find some coffee and then she returned to the meeting room and sat down when she suffered a spider bite to the upper thigh.

The lawyers alleged the injuries were caused by the "negligence and or breach of contract and breach of duty of care by the council", which has since been renamed the Sunshine Coast Shire Council. They sought $71,000 for past economic loss and future loss of $472,940 and over $100,000 in future medical expenses for Patston. The revelations that Patston was employed as an administrative officer with the then-Maroochy Shire Council in the early 2000s – and not the Queensland Government – have raised further questions about the ARU's oversight of her employment and her exact role with the Wallabies.

Last week the ARU was forced to defend Patston's credentials, saying she had worked for the Queensland Government for 13 years after an electronic resume for a "Di Patston" featured on the Linked In website, claiming she had been worked for the Federal Misconduct Commission and completed three degrees.

Fairfax Media could find no such body as the Federal Misconduct Commission and the universities involved said they did not have record of anybody by that name completing degrees at the time. The ARU has indicated someone other than Patston incorrectly authored her LinkedIn page. On Monday, the ARU refused to answer a series of questions put to it last week by Fairfax Media regarding Patston's employment history and qualifications for her role with the Wallabies, citing her resignation.  "Di Patston is no longer an employee of the Australian Rugby Union, after resigning and leaving the organisation on Friday 10 October 2014, due to stress relating to recent events," a spokeswoman said in a statement.  "We won't be making any further comment in relation to her employment at the Australian Rugby Union, as she is now a former employee."

Patston has been at the centre of the storm surrounding Beale, who was suspended for allegedly clashing verbally with her during a flight in Argentina last week.

Beale has since faced a secondary investigation, which could end his career in Australian rugby, for allegedly sending Patston and another player, an offensive image believed to be of an unrelated naked woman along with a message.

In extraordinary scenes on Friday, McKenzie was forced to deny sharing an intimate relationship with the 38-year-old business manager amid revelations he missed a team training session in Argentina to drive her to the airport. It is understood Patston also vigorously denies any such relationship.

Earlier on Friday, McKenzie said that he had employed Patston on the "qualifications they [people] have got and present, simple as that". He said that she had worked for the Queensland Government for 13 years in an auditing capacity and since that time she came and worked for the Reds and she did other things obviously prior to that. Patston is listed as officially joining the Reds in 2012.

"She has a very strong background, very strongly qualified in lots of areas around psychology and human behaviour," he said.  "So she is more than qualified to do the job. I can assure you. There is actually no qualifications to do the job. There is nothing that said this is what the qualifications are but she is more than qualified but she did an outstanding job there and here."

McKenzie also highlighted Patston's expertise in human resources, but the ARU has since been eager to emphasise she did not work in an official capacity in its HR department. The ARU declined to comment when asked to clarify Patston's official duties, or whether they were comfortable with its due diligence before her employment.

Sunshine Coast Shire Council in the court action denied it had breached its duty of care  or that it had failed to control pests in the building as alleged by Patston's lawyers. The matter appeared to have been settled in 2010 with a notice of discontinuance issued by her lawyers in February 2010. It is understood any settlement was well below the hundreds of thousands of dollars sought. The filings also reveal Patston's earnings fluctuated during the 2003 to 2008 period, with her declaring earning amounts ranging from around $25,000 in 2003 to 2004 financial year and only $1187 in from July 2007 to June 2006.

Patston declined to comment.