SUPREME COURT
COMPENSATION CASE ARGUED Legal argument arising from the verdict of a jury in the Supreme Court at Invercargill on May 26 last in a claim for damages on behalf of a waterside worker who was killed in an accident on an overseas ship at Bluff on August 25, 1943, was heard in the Supreme Court at Dunrxljn this morning before Mr Justice Kennedy. The case' was one in which the Public Trustee, as executor in the estate of Kenny Lauchlan McKenzie, was awarded £2,500 damages against the New Zealand Shipping Company Ltd., and John Mill and Co. Ltd, The jury found that the death of McKenzie was caused by the negligence of a winchman, William Spencer, in allowing the book and wire to run up and crash into the gin block. McKenzie was struck by a sling and fell down the hatch of the vessel. Mr T. A. Gresson (Christchurch) appeared for the plaintiff and Mr A. N. Haggitt for the defendants. At the hearing to-day, it was argued for the defence that on the plaintiff's own evidence, McKenzie must have been guilty of contributory negligence. Secondly, it was asserted that the winchman owed no duty to McKenzie to work the- winch without undue noise, and thirdly, even if Spencer was negligent, which was denied, such negligence was too remote to cause death. For the plaintiff, counsel moved for judgment in the terms of the jury's verdict. Decision was reserved.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD19440713.2.87
Bibliographic details
Evening Star, Issue 25226, 13 July 1944, Page 7
Word Count
242SUPREME COURT Evening Star, Issue 25226, 13 July 1944, Page 7
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