WIDOW GIVEN £1850

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 94, 18 October 1939, Page 5

WIDOW GIVEN £1850

DEATH OF HUSBAND

ACCIDENT AT SEATOUN

Liability was admitted in the Supreme Court yesterday afternoon, when Evelyn Beatrice Beattie, aged 26, widow of Archie Beattie, aged 29, a driver in the transport division o* the Post and Telegraph Department, who suffered fatal injuries when the van in which he was taking soldiers back to Fort Dorset was struck by another car on February 18, claimed £3550 general damages for herself and her unborn child and £19 8s for funeral expenses The jury awarded £1850 general damages and the full special damages. Leave was reserved to apply for an allocation of the money between the mother and child later.

Mr. Justice Smith presided. Mr. C. A. L. Treadwell, with him Mr. H. Mitchell, appeared for the plaintiff, and Mr. G. G. G. Watson for the defendant, Alexander Duncan, a fruiterer, of Wellington.

The statement of claim said that Duncan was driving south along Hector Street at about 7.45 a.m. Beattie was travelling east along Burnham Street, and the cars collided at the intersection, Beattie dying from his injuries. The negligence alleged against Duncan was that he failed to give way to the right, was driving at a speed excessive in the circumstances, failed to keep a proper look-out, and failed to keep as close as practicable to his left.