ACCIDENT CLAIMS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 141, 16 June 1932, Page 7

ACCIDENT CLAIMS.

PRIVY COUNCIL JUDGMENT.

IMPORTANCE IN N.Z

REFERENCE IN AUCKLAND CASE

The importance of a recent judgment of the Privy Council, in London, in a New Zealand case, Benson v. Kwong Chong, was indicated by Mr. Justice Smith in the Supreme Court to-day. His Honor heard an application for a new trial in an Auckland case in which a cyclist had T>een awarded damages against the owner of a motor van. After counsel for both sides had been heard, the judge said he would reserve his decision, possibly until the terras of the Benson-Kwong Chong case had been received. A cabled message last weekend stated that Benson had been awarded damages, thus reversing the decision of the Appeal Court in Wellington, which found for Chong. The hearing of the Auckland case took place on May 16, plaintiff being Thomas Thomson, a Westiiold Freezing Works employee, and defendant John Saunders Callinan, of Ponsonby. It was alleged that an accident which resulted in serious injuries to plaintiff was due to the negligence of one of Callinan's employees, who was driving the van. Plaintiff was riding a bicycle, and came into collision wtih the van at the junction of the Great South Road at Penrose and Station Road. The jury held the driver responsible for the accident, and awarded Thomson £425 special damages, and £750 general damages.