KINGSFORD v KAVANAGH [1994] NSWCA 165

KINGSFORD v KAVANAGH SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES COURT OF APPEAL

MEAGHER, HANDLEY and SHELLER JJA 21 November 1994

[1994] NSWCA 165

DAMAGES; motor vehicle accident; economic loss; general damages; Suitors' Fund Act 1951 s6C

The appellant claimed damages for serious injury suffered by him in 1981 as a passenger in a motor vehicle driven by the respondent which collided with another motor vehicle. The respondent admitted liability and the matter proceeded as an assessment of damages. The appellant challenged the trial judge's decision not to award loss of wages for a certain time period and the amount awarded for pain and suffering.

Held:

(1) It was open to the trial judge to come to the conclusion he did that the loss of wages suffered by the appellant during the period challenged was not a consequence of the accident.

(2) The Court on appeal was faced, eight years after the trial, with forming a view as to whether or not the amount of general damages awarded was so low as to demonstrate that there must have been some error in the exercise of his Honour's discretion. It was not satisfied that this was so.

Sheller JA Dennis John Kingsford appeals from a decision of his Honour Solomon DCJ given on 18 September 1986 in which his Honour awarded the appellant a verdict in the sum of $67,638.22. The appeal now comes on over eight years after the hearing.

The appellant was born on 8 February 1959. The proceedings concern a motor vehicle accident which took place on 13 September 1981, when the appellant was aged twenty-two, on the Pacific Highway, Hornsby. The appellant was a passenger in a motor vehicle driven by the respondent, Peter Lloyd Kavanagh, when he collided with a second motor vehicle. The respondent admitted liability and the matter proceeded as an assessment of damages.