Decision Reserved On Car Damages Appeal

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30396, 21 March 1964, Page 15

Decision Reserved On Car Damages Appeal

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, Mar. 19. Mr Justice Haslam reserved his decision in the Supreme Court today on an appeal by the Wellington City Council against a judgment awarding £2OB damages to the owner of a car damaged when driven by an unlicensed driver who had been given possession of it by two council traffic officers. The respondent was Lubisha Stoyanov, a waterside worker, who was represented by Mr W. V. Gazley. Mr R. G. M. MacGoun appeared for the council. The action arose from an incident on the Hutt road on July 1, said Mr MacGoun. Two traffic officers saw a stationary car and Stoyanov, who was in the driver’s seat, was in an advanced state of intoxication. He was arrested and taken away in a patrol car. The officers asked a passenger in the car named Chaikofski to drive Stoyanov’s car to the police station. Chai-

kofski was involved in a collision and it was found he did not hold a driving licence. Mr MacGoun said the traffic officers discharged the onus of care by asking Chaikofski if he held a current driver’s licence. In reply, Mr Gazley said the council was liable under any one of five headings—for the negligent exercise of a statutory authority, for negligent custody of the car, for having acted without authority of the owner, and as principal for the negligence of Chaikofski or its agent.