The Kaikohe Collision Case

Northern Advocate, 12 May 1939, Page 6

The Kaikohe Collision Case

[Special to “Northern Advocate ”] AUCKLAND, This Day. In the Supreme Court yesterday the hearing of a motion for a new trial in the case in which Mrs. Mary Ann White, of Kaikohe, claimed £3317 damages from the Northern Publishing Co. Ltd., Whangarei, was continued. The cause of the action was the death of plaintiff’s husband, Henry William White, following an accident at Waimate North on February 16, 1938, while driving a bus owned by the company. In March of this year, after a trial occupying six days, a jury awarded plaintiff £2717. Argument for Retrial

Supporting his submission that the findings of the jury on certain of the issues were against the weight of evidence, Mr. V. R. Meredith, who appeared with Mr. R. K. Trimmer for the Publishing Company, reviewed in detail the evidence presented at the trial. He contended that if any deficiency j in the brake had caused the accident, lit was due only to the negligence of the deceased, who, it had been stated, was responsible for the maintenance of the bus. Company Blamed Mr. W. C. Wylie, who appeared for the plaintiff, submitted that the defendant company must be able to satisfy the court that there was either no evidence to support the jury’s answers to the issues, or that an answer was one which it would be quite impossible for a jury, as reasonable men, to arrive at. Plaihtiff’s case submitted that the defendant company knew of the unsafe condition of the vehicle, and that it was its Common Law duty lo *put the trouble right. In failing to do so, the company had been guilty of Common Law negligence. Counsel added that it had been stated that the responsibility of looking after the vehicle was passed to the driver, but it was suggested there was ample evidence from which the jury could infer that the only duty imposed on White was to take the bus into a particular garage for repairs, and that in the case of major repairs the company expressly reserved the right to give authority for them.

Counsel also maintained that there was no evidence to compel a jury to find deceased guilty of contributory negligence.

The hearing was adjourned until today.

A message from Haifa says that two Arabs shot dead two Jewish supernumeries. The police caught one assailant.