NEW TRIAL ORDERED

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 193, 15 August 1936, Page 22

NEW TRIAL ORDERED

SEQUEL TO COLLISION. DECISION OF FULL COURT. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, Friday. On February 18, 1935, a collision occurred between a motor- cycle ridden by Thomas Walton Robertson, and a motor truck driven by Ling Sing, of Greytown, at one of the bends on the Rimutaka Hill. Robertson, sued Ling Sing for damages, but the jury which considered the case was unable to agree. A new trial was ordered and wns heard before Mr. Justice Blair and a jury in Jlay litst when, by a majority verdict, the.jury found that Ling Sing was 011 the wrong side of the road at the time of the collision and that Robertson was negligent 111 riding too near the crown of the road and in not keeping a proper look-out, but tljat the negligence of Ling Sing was the real cause of the collision. Damages amounting to £1704 were awarded plaintiff.

Upon these findings counsel for Ling Sing moved for judgment for the defendant, or alternatively for a new trial, on the grounds that there was no evidence in support of the jury's findings, and that the defendant's negligence was the real cause of the collision. That motion was argued before a full bench of the Supreme Court on June 22 and 24. The conclusion come to in the judgments of the acting-Chief Justice, Sir John lieed, and Mr. Justice Blair and Mr. Justice Northcroft, was that judgment should be entered for the defendant. Mr. Justice Smith, Mr. Justice Johnston and Mr. Justice Fair held that the findings of the jury were so defective that a verdict for either party could not be entered upon tliem, and accordingly there must be a new trial.

In view of the equal division of opinion Mr. Justice Northcroft, as the junior judge, withdrew his judgment, with the result that an order for a new trial becomes the verdict of the Court.