NAJJAR v GOVERNMENT INSURANCE OFFICE OF NEW SOUTH WALES [1992] NSWCA 170

NAJJAR vy GOVERNMENT INSURANCE OFFICE OF NEW SOUTH WALES

SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES COURT OF APPEAL CLARKE, HANDLEY JJA and SAMUELS AJA

12 August 1992, 12 August 1992

[1992] NSWCA 170

DAMAGES — quantum — no question of principle.

Clarke JA I will ask Justice Samuels to give the first judgment. SAMUELS AJA The appellant, the plaintiff below, was injured in a motor vehicle accident which occurred on 22 April 1985 when he was aged thirty seven. He made a claim for damages which was heard by Acting Judge Garling on 3 July 1990. Liability was admitted.

The learned judge assessed the damages at a total sum of $18,524.82 made up of damages for pain and suffering, loss of amenities and the like in the amount of $15,000 with the balance allocated to medical, hospital and other out of pocket expenses.

The appeal comes from that order, it being contended that the assessment was inadequate. The appellant does not challenge any findings of fact made by the trial judge, but disputes the value which he placed upon them.

The injuries which the appellant suffered are compendiously stated in the judgment, as being injuries to the right neck, left shoulder, left knee and ribs, the appellant having hit his head on the car window and his left knee on the radio console.

Subsequently he complained of pain in the right shoulder, tenderness in his neck and legs, and headaches. By September 1985 the learned judge found that all injuries and their consequences, save for the headaches and some problem with the left knee, had resolved; and the headaches had substantially disappeared by December of 1989.

In 1986, because of complaints of disability in the left knee, an arthroscopy was performed which revealed a tear in the left medial meniscus which was repaired. For this purpose it seems that two admissions to hospital were involved, one in May 1986 and one in November of the same year.