A DOCTOR'S CLAIM

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 35, 10 August 1927, Page 11

A DOCTOR'S CLAIM

AGAINST FRIEND'S ESTATE

LIABILITY NOT PROVED

On the grounds that the claim had never been made during the lifetime of the deceased, and that in the circumstances it should fee proved with reasonable clearness, Mr. E. Page, S.M., in a reserved judgment given in the Magistrate's Court to-day, dismissed an action for £42 2s medical expenses brought against the executors in the estate of the late John Roydou Brown, hotel manager, of Wellington. The plaintiff was Dr. Henry M. Cowen, formerly of Wellington, but now of Temuka.

Mr. Page said that the majority of the -isits made by the plaintiff were in respect of Brown himself, but a few of them related to employees and relatives who were living with him. The plaintiff had produced an extract from his ledger showing the account in detail, but had not said in words that no settlement had been arrived at, or that the account was a debt due and owing to him: but this would probably be inferred from his statements. The fact that some professional services were rendered, however, was admitted by a number of the witnesses called for the defence. There were certain special features in connection with the claim that called for consideration. The evidence had shown that the plaintiff and Brown were close personal friends, and used to visit each other. The plaintiff, moreover, was' in the habit of borrowing money from. Brown, in whose safe after his death was found a dishonoured cheque of the doctor's marked "no account." The plaintiff's evidonce, given on cross-examination, showed that he did not hava a very clear appreciation or recollection of' the financial relations between himself and Brown, and he had said that, so far as he knew, he had paia back all he had borrowed. When he left Wellington he left behind in Brown's hands a dishonoured cheque for £20,. then three months overdue, but he had said that he had received no notice of its being dishonoured. "I find it difficult to think that this was done if, as the plaintiff alleges, Brown was then indebted to him for over £40 for medical expenses," continued Mr. Page. . . . "Brown was a man who paid cash for everything, and at the date of his death, with the exception of an account of £1 for a chemist's bill, he owed not a penny. . . . Looking at the whole of the facts, I am not satisfied there is any debt due by Brown's estate to the plaintiff."

. Judgment was accordingly entered for the defendants with costs to scale. At the hearing Mr. J. J. M'Grath appeared for the plaintiff and Mr. W. P. Shorland for the defendants.