ERRONEOUS PUBLICATION

Greymouth Evening Star, 13 February 1932, Page 10

ERRONEOUS PUBLICATION

COURT AWARDS £25 DAMAGES.

Damages totalling £25, and costs, were awarded in the Whangarei Magistrate’s Court this morning to Thomas A. Walder, who sued the Traders’ Auxiliary Company of New Zealand, Ltd., for £2OO for the erroneous publication in the “Mercantile Gazette” of a notice stating that judgment had been entered against him in a Wellington Court. Plaintiff based his claim for damages on thei fact that negotiations which he was conducting for a loan were suddenly broken off about the time the notice was published. The defendant company did not deny the publication of the notice, but said the amount of damages claimed was too high. In reply to counsel, plaintiff said he did not attempt to resume the negotiations after he had seen the notice in the Gazette, nor after the apology, which was published later. The Magistrate: I have had experience with credit associations, and they would take your, name off their books when the apology appeared. Counsel: Who fixed the damages at £200?—I did. Why did you not deny the truth of the notice to the loan company?—Because a fortnight before they had turned me down. The Magistrate: You thought £2OO was a better proposition than going back to the company and giving the loan another go?—I think that is an unfair question. The Magistrate: No, it is not. Counsel for the defence read correspondence showing that the mistake had been made in the civil records book at the. Wellington Court, but had been corrected later. In awarding £25 damages, the magistrate said the action was unfortunate for both sides. The company had done all it could do to rectify the damage by publishing the apology. Walder was a man who had something to lose. Walder was not sure that the company with which he had been negotiating was affected by the notice and was trying to get the Court to assume something of which he was not satisfied himself. Five pounds had been paid into Court by the company, but he considered that it was not enough.