GOVERNMENT INSURANCE OFFICE OF NEW SOUTH WALES v BERMINGHAM [1990] NSWCA 75

GOVERNMENT INSURANCE OFFICE OF NEW SOUTH WALES v BERMINGHAM

SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES COURT OF APPEAL

MAHONEY, CLARKE and HANDLEY JJA 20 June 1990, 7 December 1990 [1990] NSWCA 75

Appeal from District Court — Assessment of damages — Injury to right leg — Right ankle and right knee — Contest as to assessment of Plaintiff's economic loss — Assessment of discount for contingencies — General damages $50,000 — Not appealably excessive — No error shown — Appeal dismissed with costs — No issues of principle.

Mahoney JA On 6 April 1985 the plaintiff was injured in an accident for which the defendant has accepted responsibility. On 1 February 1989 Moore DCJ gave judgment for the plaintiff against the defendant for $287,000. The defendant has appealed to this Court against his Honour's judgment.

His Honour's judgment was made up of the following components:

General Damages $50,000

Out-of-pocket expenses 258

Past economic loss 43,074

Interest on past economic loss 10,733

Future economic loss 182,993 $287,058

His Honour rounded off the amount of the judgment and awarded $287,000.

In order to understand the grounds on which the appeal has been pressed, it is necessary to refer briefly to the facts on which his Honour's judgment was based. The plaintiff was born on 13 April 1961 and was therefore 23 years of age at the date of the accident. He left Canowindra High School in 1976 after three months in second form. After leaving school he had worked as a seasonal worker, a packer, a driver and a labourer. His Honour's conclusion was that his economic future lay in work of that kind.

At the time of the accident the plaintiff had, as his Honour found, "achieved a well paid position" as "an offsider to a meat truck driver with the possibility of promotion in the future to the position of driver". The driver and the offsider in such work would be engaged on a casual basis but his Honour concluded "it was work that was readily available and the plaintiff could reasonably expect it to have continued indefinitely".