DAMAGES CLAIM

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29222, 4 June 1960, Page 7

DAMAGES CLAIM

Hearing To Continue Today

The Court regretted having to ask jurors to sit on a Saturday, said Mr Justice Macarthur in the Supreme Court yesterday when he' adjourned the hearing of a claim for £1250 general damages by Harry Williams, a watersider, aged 55, until 10 a.m. today. The hearing has already occupied two and a half days. Counsel, before the hearing began, told the Court they expected the case to last two days. His Honour, apologising for the hearing being prolonged, said that several legal points had been raised.

All the evidence had been given when his Honour released the jury at 4.20 p.m. yesterday, and heard argument from counsel in chambers concerning legal issues raised during the hearing. This morning, the jury will have the issues involved put before them and will listen to three addresses from counsel and his Honour’s summing-up before retiring to consider its verdict.

The plaintiff is also claiming £6BO 3s 2d special damages for loss of wages and hospital expenses after a flying capstan hook broke his right leg when he was engaged in the discharging of cargo from the Kopua at No. 7 wharf on June 3, 1958, and he was off work for 14 months.

The Attorney-General, through the Railways Department, by whom the plaintiff was employed at the time of the accident, is named as first defendant. The Union Steam Ship Company, Ltd., owners of the Kopua, is named as second defendant. Mr B. McClelland, with him Mr A. D. Holland, appears for the plaintiff, Mr C. M. Roper appears for the Railways Department and Mr R. W. Edgely for the Union Steam Ship Company, Ltd.

The plaintiff cla ; ms negligence must have occurred and relies on the dictum res ipsa loquitur—the facts speaking for themselves. He also claims that either one or both of the defendants through their servants must have been negligent.

Both defendants deny negligence. The Railways Department alleges the Union Steam Ship Company’s workers were at fault, and the shipping company claims Railway Department workers were at fault. Mr Edgley concluded the case for the shipping company yesterday by calling eight more witnesses.