£3500 DAMAGES CLAIM

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25970, 25 November 1949, Page 8

£3500 DAMAGES CLAIM

MAN INJURED BY BAILIFF’S CAR

ACCIDENT AFTER SERVICE OF SUMMONS

(New Zealand Press Association.) WELLINGTON, November 24. Allegations that he had been knocked down and seriously injured by a motor-car driven by a bailiff with whom he had been trying to remonstrate over a summons for a debt he had already paid were made by the plaintiff in a damages claim before Mr Justice Nortbcroft in the Supreme Court at Wellington to-day. Henry David Petersen, a waterside worker, claimed £3500 damages against the Crown. Dr. O. C. Mazengarb, K.C., for the plaintiff, said the incident occurred outside the plaintiff’s home in November last year. The bailiff, after handing the plaintiff the summons, returned to his car. Petersen ran after him to explain that he had already paid the debt of £1 19s 6d. Petersen handed the summons back to the man in the car, but it was thrown out across the street. While the car was coming back up the street after turning round, Petersen waited on the road with his hand up to ask the driver to stop, and, said counsel, was knocked down. Both legs were broken, an arm whs fractured, and he suffered head injuries. For the defence, Mr E. D. Blundell claimed that the plaintiff was negligent in moving in front of the car and in failing to keep clear or stay on the footpath and take reasonable precautions for his safety. Mr Blundell submitted that the bailiff’s version of the incident was more acceptable. Evidence was called by both sides and closing addresses by counsel were being heard when the Court adjourned till to-morrow.