BATTY & ANOR. V. EVANS

at IN THE HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALTA

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT

J— 5 Gourley, Gort, Print, Met.

7109/51

Appeal dismissed with costse

wer

JUDGMENT.

BATTIY & ANOR. ve EVANS

DIXON C.J.

icTLERNAN J. IBD Je

TAYLOR J.

BATTY & ANOR. Ve NS.

This is an appeal from an order of the Supreme Court of New South Wales refusing a new trial in an action brought under the Compensation to Relatives Act 1897 as amended. The plaintiff is the executor of Beresford Brown Bishop, who died on 8th December 1951 as a result of the defendants' negligence in the management of a motor car. The plaintiff as executor sued on behalf of the deceased's widow and two children. Liability was not denied on the part of the defendant and the only question submitted to the jury was that of the assessment of damages. The jury awarded the sum of £13,500 to the plaintiff, including an amount of £1500 to be divided equally between the two children on their attaining twenty-one. That appears to have been the form of their verdict. The defendant applied to the Full Court of the Supreme Court of'New South Wales for a new trial on the ground that the damages were excessive. The application was refused on the ground that, although the verdict was a large one, it was not such as to be out of all proportion to the circumstances of the case and one that could not be arrived at reasonably. The defendant now appeals as of right to this Courte

It appears that the deceased was 36 years of age at the time of his death. His wife was about the same age. They were married on 18th December 1937. The children of the marriage consisted of a boy aged a little more than nine years at the time of his father's death and a girl of a little more than six years of age. The deceased had enlisted in the A.I.F. as a private in 1942 and served with the A.I.F. until some time in 1947, attaining the rank of lieutenant. He joined the Commonwealth Military Forces with the same rank in 1949 and was in that service at the time of his death. He had passed the examination for captain and was about to be promoted to that rank. In civil life he was an accountant. In 1949 he joined Australian Trade Publications Pty.