DAMAGES CLAIMED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 214, 10 September 1931, Page 3

DAMAGES CLAIMED.

HORSE AND CAR COLLIDE.

SMASH NEAR NGONGOTAHA

FARMER AND SOLICITOR.

(By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.)

HAMILTON, this day,

A claim for £180 damages in respect of alleged negligence is being heard by Mr. Justice Smith to-day. The plaintiff is Michael James Wilson, farm manager, of Ngongotaha, and the defendant Martin Hampson, solicitor, of Rotorua. The claim arose out of a motor collision on the night of December 11. It was claimed that the plaintiff was riding a horse from Rotorua to Ngongotaha shortly after midnight when he saw a car with glaring lights approaching along the broad, straight road. He pulled over to the proper side, but when about 80ft away the car swerved to the wrong side and struck and killed plaintiff's horse five feet from the edge of the road on the plaintiff's proper side. Plaintiff was injured seriously and was 10 days in hospital. Plaintiff, in evidence, said defendant's car was travelling faster than he had ever seen a car travel. After the accident, when he (plaintiff) regained consciousness, the defendant was leaning over him and told him to get up. Plaintiff could not rise, however, and he asked Hampson to ring the Police Department. He told his son, who was with him, to ring for Dr. Bertram. The horse has been lent to plaintiff by John McLean, and was worth £30 to £40. Cross-examined by Mr. Richmond, plaintiff said that after leaving home in the evening he made his way to the hotel at Whakarewarewa. He denied having had any beer there, or having taken several bottles away with him. It was not he who had thrown away several bottles, neither was it true that he asked two witnesses to say they knew he had no money with which to buy beer. Mr. Hampson (Auckland) appeared for the defence. Mr. Richmond contended that where one party to a collision was on the wrong side up to a certain point the other party" was justified in moving to the wrong side in order to try and avoid an accident. Martin H. Hampson, the defendant, said when the lights first picked up the horseman he (defendant) was travelling at between 30 and 40 miles an hour. He slackened his speed materially and kept to the middle of the road, expecting the horseman, who was on his wrong side, to cross over to the proper side. He finally became convinced that the horseman was not going to cross over and when 30 yards away with the horse galloping toward him, pnd the rider hunched in the saddle with his head down, defendant concluded that he was drunk and had not noticed the car lights. Had defendant driven over to the left he would have crashed into the horse and he was satisfied the only safe plan was to swerve over to the wrong side. At the same time he slackened his speed to about 20 miles an hour. The horse galloped straight on until a short distance away, when it suddenly turned across the road and galloped into the car. The case is proceeding.