NSW Caselaw
LEE yv. KORONUI
SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES — COURT OF APPEAL
POWELL JA and SMART AJA 27 June 1997
[1997] NSWCA 188
In assessing damages for economic loss it is usually desirable to deal with past and future economic loss separately. An amount by way of a "buffer" is usually not appropriate for past economic loss. It may be appropriate for future economic loss.
Powell JA. I will ask Smart AJA to deliver the first judgment.
Smart AJA. Marie Joan Lee has appealed against the award of damages to her on the ground that the amount awarded for economic loss is demonstrably inadequate. She sustained a severe whiplash injury and other bruising when the motor vehicle which she was driving was struck on the right side by another vehicle and the area from the headlight to the engine on her car was squashed. She described it as a 'terrible' collision. Her car was a 'write off'. The back of her head went through the driver's side window which had been wound up. Her car was spun around and ended up some distance away. She was knocked out.
Mrs Lee was born on 22 June 1930 and was aged 59 at the time of the accident on 29 July 1989. In about 1987 she had been diagnosed as suffering from Paget's disease. The judge accepted that her pains and disabilities as a result of her accident were quite different from the pains which she had previously suffered. The judge found that she was a witness of truth. He summarised the position thus:
... the plaintiff has suffered a whiplash type injury which has had the effect of causing
difficulty to her in her movements and in lifting heavy objects with her right arm ... a
degree of insecurity in respect of her right leg ... and the difficulty with her right knee
which ... has caused her inconvenience and difficulty from time to time.'"'The judge
accepted that as a result of the accident she had difficulties in the interaction between her neck and her right shoulder.
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