HR WALTERS PTY LTD v ATIK [1992] NSWCA 102

HR WALTERS PTY LTD v ATIK SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES COURT OF APPEAL

KIRBY P, CLARKE and HANDLEY JJA 24 March 1992, 24 April 1992

[1992] NSWCA 102

DAMAGES — motor vehicle accidents — single undifferentiated judgment — proper approach to multiple injuries — overlap of symptoms — husband rendered quadriplegic in one accident wife's loss of earning capacity. Graham v Baker (1962) 106 CLR 340 applied

DAMAGES — motor vehicle accidents — multiple accidents single judgment entered — undifferentiated components notional components recalculated for purpose of appeals whether appealably excessive — whether exceed sound discretionary judgment — Turkish woman suffers trauma to neck, back and head in a series of three accidents — husband rendered quadriplegic in second accident — whether loss of economic capacity did or might lead to financial loss on her part — whether husband would have been placed in nursing home or maintained at his own home by the plaintiff — proper approach to hypothesis — proper approach to calculation of notional economic loss — Graham v Baker (1961) 106 CLR 340, 347 applied — held: (1) All three notional components of the composite judgment entered in the District Court demonstrated error requiring correction; (2) The Court of Appeal should substitute the judgments appropriate on each case and could safely do so in the circumstances; (3) The awards of general damages for the first and third accidents were excessive and should be reduced with consequences for the recalculation of interest; (4) The award of economic loss in respect of the second accident was excessive and should be reduced having regard to the absence of evidence or the unlikelihood that the plaintiff would have left her quadriplegic husband to go to work — award for loss of economic capacity reduced to $100 per week.