Verdict today in damages claim

Press, 21 May 1987, Page 4

Verdict today in damages claim

The jury will give its verdict today in the claim for damages of $145,211 against the Ministry of Transport which is being heard before Mr Justice Holland in the High Court. Evidence was completed just after midday yesterday. Counsel for both parties will address the jury this morning and then his Honour will sum up.

The action is against the Attorney-General who is being sued on behalf of the Ministry of Transport.

The claim arises from the capsize of a boat owned by a deer hunter, Allan Lindsay Johnstone, who alleges that he was wrongfully evicted from

the house he was occupying near the Puysegur Point lighthouse in southern Fiordland. He and his employee were thrown into the sea and managed to scramble ashore but all their equipment, including a transmitter which was in the boat, was lost. Mr Johnstone, aged 34, a former deer hunter and now a sickness beneficiary, of Christchurch, claims $50,000 in exemplary damages and $95,211 in special damages for the loss of gear, damage to his boat, loss of profits, and other costs incurred as a result of the alleged actions of an official of the Ministry of Transport. In his statement of

claim, Mr Johnstone said that he had permission to be in the house at Puysegur Point when he was ordered to leave and he was forced to put to sea in rough conditions. The Ministry denies all allegations made by Mr Johnstone and says that the capsize of the boat was his own fault for putting to sea when conditions were unsafe.

Mr John Burn appears for Mr Johnstone and Messrs Graham Panckhurst and Raoul Neave for the Ministry, which denies all liability. During the hearing, which began oh Monday, evidence was given for the plaintiff by himself, Francis Charles Castle, a

lighthouse keeper; Frederick John Hill, a chartered accountant; and Richard John Werry, a Public Service Association representative, of Wellington.

The departmental employee and the Public Service Association representative appeared on subpoena. For the Ministry, evidence was given by William John Mclntosh, district officer at Invercargill; Thomas Alexander Paterson, a conservation officer, of Te Anau; Sidney Davies, a retired controller of lighthouse services, now living in Tauranga; and Trevor lan Hargreaves, a lighthouse keeper.