ELLIOTT V. GOLDNER

ORY ih AE & : _prhiali LT Rett

IN THE HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA

a BLLIOTT

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT

. Judgment delivered at... S¥OREY a 'W. M. Houstox, Gort. Print,' Melb. on... Tueséay.y..2nd..April..1957.....

©.1975/85

costse

ELLIOTT

Ve GOLD! . JUDGMENT.

Judgment for plaintiff for £700 with

ELLIOTT

Ve

GOLDNER

WEBB J.

ELLIOTE

Ve GOLDNER JUDGMENT WEBB J.

This is an action between residents of different States for damages for breach of a contract to carry yearling colts from Adelaide to Melbourne on the 14th February 1956. The plaintiff resides in Melbourne and the defendant in Adelaide. The plaintiff bought the two colts for racing purposes, one called the Phoibos colt for nine hundred guineas and the other called the Chanak colt for two hundred and twenty guineas, and arranged with the defendant to carry them to Melbourne by road-motor transport for twenty-five pounds each. In the statement of claim the plaintiff alleged that the defendant was a common carrier, but that was not pressed. The plaintiff was aware that the colts would be conveyed in a float containing four other yearlings and probably that the journey to Melbourne would begin early in the morning and end late in the evening of the same day, i.e. 14th February 1956, There was no arrangement, and there appeared to have been no understanding, as to the number of men who would be in the float during the journey, which began at 5 a.m. and ended between 10 and 10.30 pom When the float reached Melbourne the two colts were found to be injured, the Phoibos colt severely. The divisions between the colts on the float had been dislodged and one was resting against each horse. I am,satisfied that both colts were uninjured when they were received by the defendant for conveyance to Melbourne, although the possibility that the Phoibos colt was injured in the wooden stall in which he was kept on the night of the 13th February was faintly suggested by an expert witness for the defendant.