PETERSVILLE LIMITED, TRADING AS PRESTO SMALLGOODS v BOUCHAIA [1988] NSWCA 113

PETERSVILLE LIMITED, TRADING AS PRESTO SMALLGOODS v BOUCHAIA

SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES COURT OF APPEAL SAMUELS, MCHUGH and CLARKE JJA 10 June 1988, 10 June 1988

[1988] NSWCA 113

Appeal — Damages — No question of principle — Appeal dismissed. ORDERS The order of the court is that the appeal is dismissed with costs.

Clarke JA This is an appeal by a defendant from a judgment directed to be entered by Allen J on 10 December 1986. The total amount of the judgment was $233,953.80 and that was arrived at after the deduction of payments under the Workers' Compensation Act 1926 which it is not necessary to concern myself with in these reasons. The basic components of the judgment were as follows:

Medical, hospital and like expenses $3956.16 Diminution in earning capacity - past 60000.00 Diminution in earning capacity - future 135000.00 General damages 60000.00 TOTAL $258956.16

The deduction of workers' compensation payments and the addition of appropriate interest lead to the figure which I earlier mentioned.

The appeal is solely on the issue of the excessiveness of this award of damages and in particular two elements. They were the compensation for diminution in earning capacity and general damages.

The respondent was born in October 1952 and had come to Australia to join her parents in 1976. Prior to coming to Australia she had, she said, trained for three years as a general nurse in Lebanon and had progressed to a theatre sister.

When she arrived in Australia she commenced employment as a nursing aide claiming that she was actually doing the work of a trained nurse. She continued in that employment until 1981 when she took up employment as a process worker with the appellant. There was some dispute as to the reason why she did that but it is unnecessary to concern myself with that at this time.