BOOCOCK v DUNNE and ANOR [1994] NSWCA 31

BOOCOCK v DUNNE

SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES COURT OF APPEAL

CLARKE, HANDLEY and SHELLER JJA

4 July 1994, 4 July 1994

[1994] NSWCA 31

QUANTIFICATION OF DAMAGES — PAST AND FUTURE

Clarke JA In this appeal the plaintiff who was awarded a judgment of $133,628challenges only the allowances made pursuant to Griffiths and Kerkemeyer for the past and the future. The appeal is an unusual one insofar as his Honour did not hear any oral evidence dealing with the case on the basis of a transcript taken before an arbitrator. There were good reasons for this course to be followed but it is unnecessary to refer to them here.

The plaintiff, as I shall call her, was born on 4 September 1911 and lived in England. In 1987 she travelled independently to South Africa and in December 1987 she travelled to Perth. She was involved in an accident on 6 March 1988 in New South Wales and was admitted to Ballina Hospital. The medical history appears in various medical reports and in his Honour's judgment and in the circumstances of this case it is necessary only to refer to one opinion which was accepted before his Honour. Before doing that I should say that the plaintiff, prior to the accident, had been an active lady. She had driven her own car, she had been a volunteer driver for Meals on Wheels, she looked after, on occasion, elderly ladies, she was an organiser of choir outings and she was a keen attender of speedway meetings. She saw her daughter, who lived in the same village, fairly regularly but the evidence was that apart from some assistance with the laundry, gardening and house maintenance she was entirely independent. The evidence demonstrated that in the accident she sustained severe physical injuries but in the main over a period of time they settled down. Nonetheless the accident had on any view a dramatic effect on the plaintiff and transformed her from an active independent person to one who was very much dependent on her daughter.