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Jury finds negligence proved

(N.Z. Press Association) DUNEDIN, August 4. After a retirement of five hours, a jury today found negligence proved in the case of Edna Ellen Grindley, aged 52, a widow, of Christchurch, who claimed general damages and special damages against the Dunedin City Corporation.

The hearing was before Mr Justice Roper in the Supreme Court.

The jury assessed $13,300 general ' damages plus $4365.50 special damages in

favour of the plaintiff, but in also finding contributory negligence on the part of plaintiff it reduced the total 50 per cent.

The jury was required only to assess whether there was, in fact, negligence, and to assess, in monetary terms, th. amount.

The question of the legal liability of the defendant corporation under common law and section 8 of the Occupiers’ Liability Act was still to be decided, and his Honour adjourned the hearing to a date to be fixed. Mrs Grindley • claimed $20,000 general damages, plus special damages, after breaking her right leg when she fell from a patio of pensioner flats in Shetland Street on November 4, 1968.

She alleged that the corporation was negligent in failing to install a safety railing on the patio, failing properly to fill in the ground below the porch, failing to warn of the danger, permitting the premises to be occupied in an unsafe condition, and failing to ensure that the premises were in a safe condition to be occupied. Mrs Grindley, the proprietoi of a milk bar-dairy in Seaview Road, New Brighton, claimed that since her accident she had been unable to do as much in her shop as she did previously. Because of the wages she had to pay, her business was now losing money, she said. Mr B. McClelland, of Christchurch, appeared for the plaintiff, and Mr M. H.

N. Haggitt for the Dunedin City Corporation. Summing up to the jury, his Honour said their verdict required the common-sense assessment of evidence. “The mere fact of an accident happening ih circumstances such as these does not mean that plaintiff has an automatic claim for damages,” he said. In assessing special damages for Mrs Grindley’s loss of earnings, the jury had to decide whether she should have persisted with her business when it was obviously making a loss. It was hard to assess an accurate figure from the time of her accident until the date of the hearing, said his Honour.,

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Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19710805.2.20

Bibliographic details

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32677, 5 August 1971, Page 2

Word Count
401

Jury finds negligence proved Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32677, 5 August 1971, Page 2

Jury finds negligence proved Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32677, 5 August 1971, Page 2