GOVERNMENT INSURANCE OFFICE OF NEW SOUTH WALES v ANDREW [1992] NSWCA 77

GOVERNMENT INSURANCE OFFICE OF NEW SOUTH WALES v ANDREW

THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES COURT OF APPEAL

CLARKE, HANDLEY JJA and SAMUELS AJA

13 August 1992, 13 August 1992

[1992] NSWCA 77

DAMAGES — quantum — no question of principle.

Handley JA This is an appeal by the defendant from a judgment of Lloyd-Jones DCJ given at the District Court Lismore on 31 May 1991. There was no dispute as to liability at the trial and the sole issue before his Honour was the assessment of the plaintiff's damages. The trial judge awarded the plaintiff general damages amounting to $40,000, $22,500 for the past, $17,500 for the future and a cushion against possible future economic loss of $7,500.

The plaintiff sustained injuries in a motor vehicle accident which occurred on 8 May 1987 when she was sixteen years of age. She was taken by her father, who was the driver, to the Lismore Base Hospital and her condition on admission is clearly established by the terms of the hospital report. Her general condition on presentation was satisfactory but tenderness and bruising over the right knee were noted and minor abrasions and tenderness to the left upper chest wall.

The plaintiffs case at the trial was that as a result of the accident she had suffered an injury to her neck and to her right knee.

So far as the neck is concerned there was no complaint of neck problems on presentation at the hospital and the neck injury was in the nature of a whiplash type.

The plaintiff's evidence in chief established an unpromising start for a case claiming substantial damages for neck and knee injuries following the accident. Having given evidence that she was taken by ambulance to Lismore Base Hospital and then allowed to go home the following evidence was given:-

"... Q. When you got home from hospital, did you notice anything about, first of all, your head or your neck?