Phillips v Amaca Pty Ltd [2010] NSWDDT 11

Dust Diseases Tribunal of New South Wales

CITATION : Phillips v Amaca Pty Ltd [2010] NSWDDT 11

PARTIES : Vivienne Mae Phillips (Plaintiff) Amaca Pty Ltd (Defendant)

MATTER NUMBER(S) : 375 of 2009

JUDGMENT OF: O'Meally P

CATCHWORDS: DUST DISEASES TRIBUNAL :- mesothelioma - general damages - loss of earning capacity

CASES CITED: Griffiths v Kerkemeyer (1977) 139 CLR 161 Malec v JC Hutton Pty Ltd (1990) 169 CLR 638

DATES OF HEARING: 20 July 2010, 21 July 2010, 27 July 2010

DATE OF JUDGMENT: 27 July 2010

EX TEMPORE JUDGMENT DATE : 27 July 2010

P C B Semmler, QC with S Tzouganatos instructed by Turner Freeman appeared for the Plaintiff LEGAL REPRESENTATIVES: G F Little, SC instructed by Ellison Tillyard Callanan appeared for the Defendant

JUDGMENT:

JUDGMENT O'MEALLY P 1. Vivienne Mae Phillips (the plaintiff) has contracted the fatal disease of malignant mesothelioma, as a result of inhaling asbestos dust and fibre released from products manufactured by James Hardie & Company Pty Ltd in whose shoes Amaca Pty Ltd (the defendant) now stands. Its liability to compensate the plaintiff has been admitted and my task is to assess the damages to which she is entitled. The Plaintiff 2. The plaintiff was born on 7 July 1950 and hence is now sixty years of age. She was married for the second time in June 1995 and of her first marriage she has three adult children. She left school in 1968 and thereafter engaged in a variety of employments and undertook a variety of tertiary courses. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Behavioural Science from the University of Southern Queensland which she attended between 1989 and 1992. She also obtained a bachelor's degree in Applied Science and Applied Psychology, though she has not practised as a clinical psychologist.