URBAN TRANSPORT AUTHORITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES and ANOR v WILLIAMS [1994] NSWCA 330

URBAN TRANSPORT AUTHORITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES v WILLIAMS

SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES COURT OF APPEAL

CLARKE, HANDLEY and SHELLER JJA 8 July 1994, 8 July 1994

[1994] NSWCA 330 QUANTIFICATION OF DAMAGES

Clarke JA This is an appeal from a judgment of Associate Judge I Johnson QC given on 3 August 1992. His Honour awarded the respondent damages in the sum of $219,042.84 for an injury which she sustained when a passenger in a bus on 19 September 1985.

The injuries were primarily soft tissue injuries to her cervical spine and both knees.

His Honour accepted that there were some degenerative changes in the cervical spine but held that the accident had aggravated those changes and it was the aggravation which caused the respondent problems with her neck and shoulder. His Honour says little more about her condition.

He awarded the respondent general damages in an amount of $40,000, of which amount $25,000 he allocated to the knee injury and $15,000 in respect of the injuries to the respondent's neck. He obviously considered that both conditions had virtually settled, for he allowed general damages for the future in 10 per cent of the sum of $40,000.

He also allowed the appellant economic loss in respect of the period between the date of accident and the date of trial. He accepted the claim for impaired earning capacity in the future which he calculated on the basis that the respondent remained totally unfit for any form of work and would remain so until the age of 65.

The appellant has challenged both the economic loss claim and the award for general damages. The respondent was born on 26 June 1936 and had left school at the age of 13. She had worked and, indeed, had a very good work record. She married in 1959 and had five children and she was, at the time of the accident and trial, married, although her husband had had a heart condition and had retired.