MURPHY v EMBREY [1988] NSWCA 99

MURPHY v EMBREY

SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES COURT OF APPEAL

Hope, SAMUELS and MCHuGH JJA 5 August 1988, 5 August 1988

[1988] NSWCA 99 DAMAGES — quantum — no question of principle.

JUDGES — there is a legitimate expectation induced by conventions of practice that judges will give reasons for their decisions without having to be asked for them.

Samuels JA The appellant, who was born on 1 April 1963, was injured in a motorvehicle accident on 22 March 1985. Her action for damages came on before Judge Mahoney in the District Court on 16 March 1987. His Honour awarded the plaintiff a total of $7673.60 which included $98 for wage loss accrued to the trial, $1575.60 for accrued out-of-pocket expenses and $6000 for damages for pain and suffering, loss of amenities and the like. It is the last amount which is in contest, the appellant challenging it as being inadequate.

The appellant was taken to hospital immediately after the accident and there at the Liverpool Hospital she was seen to have a swelling of the left knee and some tenderness of the ribs. X-rays disclosed no osseous lesion of the left knee or of the ribs. She was discharged home.

She consulted her local doctor who referred her to Dr Peter Giblin, an orthopaedic specialist, who first saw her on 12 August 1985. He noted that an arthrogram had been performed which was normal but, having been told by the appellant that she had pain in her left knee exacerbated by kneeling, squatting and going up and down stairs, Dr Giblin suggested that an arthroscopy should be performed. This was carried out by Dr Giblin on 22 August 1986 and demonstrated post-traumatic chondromalacia patellae. Thereafter she attended Dr Giblin on one further occasion, he last seeing her on 19 January 1987 when she complained of continuing symptoms of pain in the knee and difficulty in using it in various ways which, in Dr Giblin's view, would persist for several years to come.