£7000 AWARDED

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 25 November 1938, Page 3

£7OOO AWARDED

GIRL'S LOSS OF LEG WELLINGTON CITY CORPORATION TO PAY I Uriite<l Press A asocial ion 1 WELLINGTON, 24th November. Damages for the full amount claimed. £7OOO, were awarded by a jury of twelve in the Supreme Gpurt this afternoon to Marcia Donellan, aged 17, whose left leg was amputated following a collision between a tram and a lorry in Wakefield street on 16th June. She was travelling in the tram, and sued the Wellington City Corporation and the Westport Coal Co. Ltd., for £7OOO. The damages were awarded against the City Corporation. The case, which occupied four days, was presided over by the Chief Justice (Sir Michael Myers), whose summing up to-day lasted for almost an hour and three-quarters. “The parties in this <jase are indebted to you. and so is the Court, for the obvious care and patience that you have devoted to the trial of this case,” said his Honour to the jury. “The questions that various members of the jury have put through your foreman show clearly the intelligent interest and conscientious attention which you have taken, and are paying, to the trial of this case. One cannot help feeling gratified that it is so, because, after all, we have to remember that we are all here administering justice, and that we must be careful to see, as far as lies in our power and in our ability, that justice is done as between the parties that come before the Court in the matter that has to.be litigated. TRIBUTE TO COUNSEL “I would also like to say before I deal with the facts of the case that I appreciate the conduct of the case by all counsel engaged. The case is an important one; it involves important issues. It is a substantial claim by a young girl who has suffered terrible injuries, but it involves also the consideration of important questions as to the conduct of two working men, the motorman of the tram and the driver of the lorry, and we all have to be careful to see that they, as well as the plaintiff, obtain justice in this court. “The case, however, has been conducted, if I may say so, not only well, but admirably. Every one of the counsel engaged has conducted his case with absolute fairness, and each with his customary skill; and there has been an entire absence of even the slightest asperity in any one of them. And I hope the same thing can be said of the Court.” His Honour then dealt in detail with the evidence. Referring to the defence raised by the Corporation that the girl had been negligent in riding on the step of the tram, his Honour said that that defence was based on a city bylaw—a perfectly proper bylaw—but the girl was not necessarily negligent even if she had been on the step of the tram. "One would think that those operating the trams would rather encourage passengers to be ready to leave the car as soon as the car stops,” said his Honour. “If all passengers remained in their seats until the car actually stopped one would not be surprised if you had a good many complaints on the part of those operating the trams, because ot the delay; but I don’t mean to say for a moment that persons should rise from their seats and stand on the platform.” It was not suggested, so far as he could see, that a passenger on a tram was not doing the right thing when he got up before the tram stopped and saved his own time and everybody else’s time by being ready to alight when the tram slopped. AMOUNT OF DAMAGES “I do not hesitate to say in this case, gentlemen, that it is not a case where you cannot find, and reasonably find, that the amount claimed is not a penny too much, having regard to the injuries that this girl has suffered and will suffer in the future,” said his Honour. “I repeat, you may think the case is one where the amount claimed is not a penny too much.” The jury retired at 11.57, and returned at 2.5 G p.m.