COMPENSATION COURT

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 25, 29 July 1940, Page 9

COMPENSATION COURT

Compensation amounting to £1000 has been awarded by Mr. Justice O'Regan in.a reserved judgment given in the Compensation Court to Theresa Bertha de Bique, of Wellington, for the death of her former husband, John Armstrong, a waterside worker, who died in March, 1939, from advanced heart disease while temporarily employed b* McGowan and Magee, Ltd., on a furniture-removing job. His Honour held that the plaintiff and two children were total dependants and that the eldest child was partially dependent. Mr. C. J. O'Regan appeared for the plaintiff, and Mr. W. P. Shorland for McGowan and Magee.

An award of £100, in addition to compensation previously paid, was made to Douglas Parrant, an apprentice, of Petone, in another reserved decision, the defendant being New Zealand Motor Bodies, Ltd., by which Parrant was employed when, in July, 1937, he suffered an accidental injury which damaged his left eye and seriously and permanently impaired his vision. Mr. D. M. Dickson appeared for the plaintiff, and Mr. T. C. A. Hislop for the company.

Judgment in favour of the defendant company was given in the case in which Vincent Barnao, a labourer, of Palmerston North, sought compensation from Barnao's Fish Market, Ltd., of Wellington, as the result of injuring his right elbow when he slipped on the floor as he was hoisting a sack of oysters in October, 1938. The plaintiff claimed he was totally disabled from earning full wages from the accident to March, 1939, a period of 25 weeks for which liability was admitted by the company and for which £87 13s 4d was paid into court. The plaintiff made an extra claim in respect of his allegation that he had now a limited wage-earning capacity. His Honour said he was satisfied that the plaintiff's earning capacity had not been reduced, and he gave judgment for the company, at the same time ordering a refund from the £87 paid into court of £25 which had been paid to the plaintiff as full wages for five weeks after the injury. Mr. D. W. Virtue appeared for the company, and Mr. R. E. Harding for the plaintiff.