State Government Insurance Commission v Stevens Bros Pty Ltd [1984] HCA 32

High Court of Australia Murphy, Wilson, Brennan, Deane and Dawson JJ. State Government Insurance Commission v Stevens Bros Pty Ltd [1984] HCA 32

ORDER Appeal dismissed with costs.

Cur. adv. vult.

The following written judgments were delivered:—

May 16 Murphy, Wilson, Brennan and Deane JJ.

This is an appeal from a decision of the Full Court of the Supreme Court of South Australia. The question is whether a third-party insurance policy in force pursuant to the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act 1959 S.A., as amended ("the Act") obliges the appellant insurer to indemnify the respondents in respect of damages paid or payable by them to one Dawson for personal injury suffered by him on their premises when a mobile compressor to which the policy referred was being unloaded from a truck. The Full Court, by majority (White and Legoe JJ., Mitchell A.C.J. dissenting), answered that question in the affirmative. Their Honours held that, within the meaning of the policy set out in the Fourth Schedule to the Act, the bodily injury suffered by Dawson arose out of the use of the motor vehicle.

The facts are not in dispute and may be stated shortly. The first respondent was in the business of hiring out mobile compressors. The compressor was mounted on wheels and fitted with a tow-bar, thereby satisfying the description of "motor vehicle" within the meaning of the Act. The machine which was involved in Dawson's accident was being returned by him to the premises of the first respondent on the expiration of a period of hiring to his employer. The return was effected by placing the compressor on the tray of a truck. Dawson had attached the tow-bar to the rear of the truck to prevent its movement during the journey. On arrival at the first respondent's premises, he drove the truck beneath an overhead crane so that the compressor could be lifted off the truck. A hook suspended from the crane was then inserted into a metal loop which had been built into the top of the compressor for the very purpose of enabling it to be lifted off any conveyance by which it had been transported. The tow-bar was released and the lift began. Unfortunately, the tow-bar became caught in some part of the back of the truck until increased pressure resulted in its sudden release. it knocked Dawson over the back of the truck on to the ground as a result of which he suffered injury.