APPEAL AGAINST DECISION

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIII, Issue 77, 13 March 1933, Page 7

APPEAL AGAINST DECISION

SEQUEL TO ACCIDENT. INSURANCE COMPANIES v. MRS E. I. JOHNSON. By Telegraph—Press Association Wellington, March 13. The Court of Appeal is to-day hearing the case of the Australasian Temperance and General Mutual Assurance Co. and the Commercial Union Assurance Co. against Elizabeth Ivy Johnson and John Randolph Johnson. The insurance companies are appeal* ing against the decision of Mr Justice Reed, delivered at Wellington cn August last, in which he gave judgment in favour of Mrs Johnson for £245 10/- against the Commercial Union Co. and for £5OO against the I. and G. Co. Both actions were claim* by Mrs Johnson for insurance money* in respect to a motor accident at the Ohau railway crossing on May 6, 1930, as the result of which she suffered am. putation of the left leg below the knee. In the case of the ■ .ion against, the Commercial Union the claim was made under a comprehensive motor car policy whereby she was insured, inter alia, for £250 and £lO medical expenses for loss of a leg. The claim against the T. and G. Co. was based on the provisions- of their ordinary accident policy entitling the insured to a sum of £5OO for the same injury. In each case the insurance companies acknowledged liability and paid the insurance moneys to the husband of the plaintiff, Mrs Johnson, and obtained receipts purporting to be signed by her. Mrs Johnson, however, alleged that these receipts were forgeries and the Court accepted this view. The trial judge held that Mrs Johnson had not signed the receipts and had had receiv. ed the moneys to which she was entitled under the provisions of the poll, cies. An appeal is now brought againat this decision.