INSURANCE CLAIM

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 151, 23 March 1938, Page 8

INSURANCE CLAIM

Company Appeals Against Judge’s Decision SUM OF £lOOO INVOLVED The hearing of an appeal against a decision of Mr. Justice Northcroft in which he awarded £lOOO sued- for under a contract of insurance was begun in the Court of Appeal at Wellington yesterday. Appellant was the Victoria Insurance Company, Ltd., and respondent Ernest Leonard Harrison-WilKie, farmer, of West Melton, Canterbury. The court consists of the Chief Justice (Sir Michael Myers), Mr. Justice Blair, Mr. Justice Kennedy and Mr. Justice Callan. Mr. P. B. Cooke, K.C., with him Mr. P 11. T. Alpers, is appearing for appellant and Mr. F. D. Sargent, with him Mr K. J. McMenamin, for respondent. All the counsel, with the exception of Mr. Cooke, are front Christchurch. Respondent is the administrator of the estate of his late wife, Marguerite Therese Harrison-Wilkie, who was insured for £lOOO under a private motor vehicle insurance policy issued to her on February 15, 1937, by the Victoria Insurance Company, Ltd. On May 28, 1937, between 5.30 p.m. and 0.30 p.m., according to the admitted facts, Mrs. Harrison-Wilkie was travelling home jn her motor-car along the Yaldhurst Hoad. Her husband was driving the car, and she was seated by him on the front seat. There was a dense fog with bad visibility. ,The car was stopped to let Mrs. HarrisonWilkie get out to ascertain their whereabouts. Before the car was quite stopped Mrs. Harrison-Wilkie opened the door, and accidentally fell out. She was : found to have a bruise and an abrasion on her leg as.well as a bruise near her throat. Tlie abrasion was dirty and was bathed with hot water and a disinfectant. Mrs. Harrison-Wilkie, who had been trained as a nurse, either herself dressed and bandaged the injuries twice a dhy or directed this, and meanwhile stayed in bed. Qn June 13 her condition caused concern, and she was taken to Christchurch for medical attention. The doctor at once sent her to a private hospital. The next day tetanus was diagnosed, and she was removed to the public hospital for isolation and treatment. She died on June 18 from tetanus.

At the time of her death Mrs. Harrison-Wilkie was -10 years of age and her policy of insurance was in force. Mr. Justice Northcroft, in his judgment, said that the physician who was at first consulted, a surgeon who operated and another surgeon who saw her, were all called as witnesses—the first two for plaintiff and the third for defendant. They were agreed thaf most probably the infection of tetamis occurred when Mrs. Harrison-Wilkie was injured at the roadside. It was explained that the dust of the roadside in a rural locality such as that where the acoident occurred, or even the dust on the tyres of the car which traversed country districts and by which she might have been injured, might be contaminated with tetanus germs or spores. The dust would infect the abrasion and thus, all three medical witnesses thought, deceased contracted tetanus. It was admitted by them as a possibility, but disregarded as a probability, that the infection.occurred at the farm during (he period when thfe leg was being treated there. Upon the evidence his Honour found that the infection of tetanus from which Mrs. Harrison-Wilkie died occurred when she fell from the car and not during the subsequent treatment at her home. He held that plaintiff was entitled to recover the sum sued for in accordance with deceased’s contract of insurance.

Tiie main grouiid of the appeal is that the cause of death was outside the scope of the provisions of the policy. The hearing will be continued to-day.