DOWNIE V. STONHAM

be

IN THE HIGH COURT OF AUS XALIA

_.. STONHAM

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT

Judgment delivered at__Sydmey on... Monday, 2n

, M. Housto, Gore. Print, Meld,

OWNTE Ve STON!

Appeal allowed with costs. Judgment of the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory varied by deleting the sum of £850 in the Judgment of that Court and substituting the sum of £1,500 in lieu

thereof.

DOWNIE v. STONHAM

JUDGMENT

DOWNIE v. STONHAM

This is an appeal from a judgment of the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory by which damages in the sum of £850 were awarded to the appellant. The ground of appeal to this Court is that the amount awarded was inadequate.

The claim of the appellant against the respondent was based upon the negligence of the latter in driving a motor vehicle along the Duntroon-Queanbeyan Road on the 11th July 1956. By. reason of the respondent's negligence, it was said, his vehicle came into collision with another vehicle driven by the appellant, who at the time was a motor driver in the Australian Military Forces, and as a result the appellant was injured. He suffered a compound fracture of the right patella. At the hearing in the Supreme Court negligence was admitted and the task of the trial judge was limited to the assessment of damages.

After the collision the appellant was admitted to the Canberra Community Hospital where an operation was performed to reduce the fractures and he remained in that hospital for about a week. On the 18th July he was taken to the Military Hospital at Duntroon where he remained for some five weeks. The leg was said to be in plaster from the top of the leg to the ankle. After his discharge from that hospital on the 15th September he was placed upon light duties in the Military Forces. Apparently this means that he was engaged in driving staff cars instead of heavy trucks from the transport section. He complains that in driving on long trips he suffered some pain in the knee and that