Jury Says Convent Driver Negligent

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30779, 17 June 1965, Page 9

Jury Says Convent Driver Negligent

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, June 16. A jury in the Supreme Court found the driver of a motor car owned by the Convent of the Good Shepherd, Te Horn, was negligent in a manner causing or contributing to injuries suffered by Albert Joseph Cogswell, a postman, of Paraparaumu. Cogswell, in the statement of claim, sought total damages of £4751 against the convent. The parties subsequently settled the quantum of damages out of court and left the jury to determine liability. The statement of claim said that on December 14, 1963, a car owned by the convent collided with Cogswell’s car at an intersection at Paraparaumu. Cogswell alleged the driver of the convent’s ear was negligent in, among other things,

failing to keep a proper lookout and in failing to give way to a vehicle approaching from the right. Cogswell suffered lacerations to the head, contusion to the spinal cord, and concussion. He claimed the injuries had caused defective hearing and a neurological disorder in the limbs and that he would be permanently partially disabled. The convent, in its statement of defence, denied the allegations of negligence. It claimed that if there was negligence by the driver of its car, Cogswell contributed to the accident by his own negligence. Mr L. G. Rose appeared for Cogswell and Mr C. Evans Scott for the convent. Mr Justice -Tompkins presided.