JURIC V. GRDIC

NES

IN THE HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA

ORIGINAL

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT

Judgment delivered at____ME.

27TH OCTOBER 1965.

on...

'A.C. Brooks, Government Printer, Malbourne 6.7639/60

GRDIC

ORDER

Appeal allowed with costs. Judgment of Supreme Court set aside. Remit action to Supreme Court for new trial limited to damages.

Costs in the first trial to be costs in the new trial.

SUBIC

Ve

GRDIC

JUDGMENT BARWICK C.J.

This is an appeal from a judgment of the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory upon the sole ground that the damages awarded to the respondent were excessive. Liability was admitted by the appellant for the consequences of a motor car accident in which the respondent and her son were injured and her husband, the driver of the vehicle, killed.

The respondent, aged 29 at the time, received serious injuries. According to the findings of the trial judge, these injuries included a fractured shaft of the right humerus, a head injury, injuries to the lower front rib which in turn injured the liver, and a multiple fracture of the pelvis with involvement of the pubic bones. These injuries entailed considerable pain and suffering both at the time of their receipt and during the ensuing and protracted treatment and convalescence. It is not clear what his Honour concluded was or would be the end result of these injuries: but it is certain that he found that the respondent would have some permanent loss of flexion of her right arm and for the future have a slight limp. She would also be scarred on the head - though within the hair-line - and upon the abdomen. #vidence was given that since the accident she had been in a depressed state, having been considerably shocked at the time of the accident, that she suffered from headaches, from backache, and from a pain in the groin. Medical evidence somewhat sparsely presented to the court suggested a continuance of these