LAW REFORM

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 58, 10 March 1938, Page 10

LAW REFORM

AMENDING CLAUSE

EXPECTATION OFiIFE I

The existing law which enables 13 he relatives of persons killed in accideflits to claim damages for pain and S4iffering and the loss of expectation, of life is to be amended by a clause; in the Statutes Amendment'Bill whaich is to be introduced in Parliament ;by the Attorney-General (the Hon. H. G. R./Mason). The clause" will abofish^ these matters as grounds for damages but will not affect the rights of .dependants to , claim for'damages jior loss of support as they have an independent claim under the Deaths by Accidents Compensation Act. ■ .

It is held that the coffipensatioa of a person for pain and suffering wbjich he himself undergoes and for Ithe shortening of his , life is in aca 3rd with the accepted sense of justice, "but it becomes a different matter w] len the compensation goes to some other person, possibly a distant relat ive. There has also been extreme difficulty in determining how to measure ' the damages in such cases.

The anomaly and the need for its removal have been pointed out fl.'om many quarters, and the new cliiuse will provide that where a cause of action survives for the benefit of the< estate of a deceased person damta.ges recoverable for the benefit of the estate may include any special damages, but. will not include dam; ages for , pain and suffering or for any bodily or mental harm suffered oh • for the curtailment of any expectation of life. ■- '■■■■. ■ ■ ' ■ !