CAN WOMAN SUE HUSBAND FOR ACCIDENT DAMAGES?

Manawatu Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 4827, 23 August 1937, Page 3

CAN WOMAN SUE HUSBAND FOR ACCIDENT DAMAGES?

Invercargill, August 21

A question of importance was argued in the Supreme Court this morning before Mr Justice Kennedy in the first case of its kind to come before the Supreme Court in New Zealand since the passing of the Law Reform Act, 1936.

The case arose from a collision between two motor cars. Alice Maude Walsh was a passenger in one car driven by her husband, and Cyril Neville Fairweather was the driver of the other ear. An action for damages by Mrs Walsh against Fairbrother is pending. ■Legal argument was heard by his Honour whether a third party could be -joined as a contributing party, in the event of Mrs Walsh obtaining damages against defendant. Mr. M. M. MacDonald, counsel for the defendant Fairweather, said his wife, who was a passenger in the car driven by her husband, was claiming damages from his client. Defendant sought to join the husband as contributing to the accident so that should the plaintiff, Mrs Walsh, obtain damages against the defendant, the latter could claim a contribution towards those damages from the husband.

Counsel submitted that the woman’s right to compensation for injuries constituted property. He quoted a recent English decision as an authority for the proposition that a married woman’s expectancy of life was property. He submitted that the trend of the law now was to regard man and wife as separate entities, and some consideration had been given to that, view in modern legislation. Mr J. C. Praia, who appeared for the plaintiff, Mrs Walsh, submitted that under the Married Women’s Property Act, 1908, as amended by the Law Reform Act, 1936, a wife could not sue her husband for damages sustained in /a collision (in this instance) and consequently under the Law Reform Act, there was no right of contribution between the defendant and the husband a* the third party. Commenting that the question was a most important one, his Honour said he would take time to consider his judgment.