CRUSHED BY LORRY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20419, 22 November 1929, Page 16

CRUSHED BY LORRY.

WOMAN SERIOUSLY INJURED. CLAIM MADE FOR DAMAGES. JURY AWARDS PLAINTIFF £196. [BY TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.] HAMILTON, Thursday. Injuries suffered by » woman through being crushed between a moving motorlorry and tho platform of a shed, resulted in a claim being mado in fho Supremo Court at Hamilton to-day beforo Mr. Justice Herdman and a jury of 12, to rocover damages from the owner of the lorry. The jury awarded plaintiff £196 16s 6d.

Tho plaintiff was Mrs. Caroline Kingscot.t, of Puketurua (Mr. J. F. Strang), and tho defendant was George Leslie Martin, carrying contractor, Put-arum (Mr. H. J. McMullin). Tho claim was for £379 19s 3d, being £350 general damages and £29 19s 3d special damages. Tho circumstances, as stated by plaintiff, wore that in February last a lorry owned by defendant and driven by an employee named Willoughby delivered some ■ manure to a shed on plaintiff s property. Mrs. Kingscott was behind the lorry.and it suddenly backed and pressed her apainst the platform of the shed. Counsel said plaintiff had nearly succumbed to the injurios sho received. Tho defence was that plaintiff did not exerciso care, in failing to keep clear of tho lorry, and that sho contributed to the accident.

Partial Permanent Disability. Evidence was given by Stanlev Jenkinson, motor engineer, Hamilton, that the lorry must havo been left in reverso gear when Willoughby started the engine, as otherwise the vehicle could not havo moved as it did. Dr. R. S. A. Graham, surgeon at the Waikato Hospital, described the injuries suffered by plaintiff. She would havo 25 to 30 per cent, permanent disability as a result of the accident. One of her ribs was fractured, a part of the vertebrae was injured, and there were also extensive bruises and other injuries. For several days her life was despaired of. The plaintiff, Caroline Kingscott, who gav.e her age as 59, said she went to the shed to ask Willoughby to take a parcel into Putaruru. She had mover to the rear of the truck to talk to her son when she heard the lorry rush back. She tried to climb on to the platform, but was struck by the lorry and was crushed against a bag of manure on the platform. She still experienced pain from her injuries and was unable to do the amount of work she formerly did as a farmer's wife. Lorry Stopped on a Hill. In opening for the defence Mr. McMullin contended that the accident was due to the chock being interfered with and to the weight of the vehicle running down a gradient. Harold Willoughby, the driver of defendant's lorry, said he stopped the lorry on a small hill a few feet away from the shed and chocked one back wheel. When the unloading was completed he put the vehicle into neutral gear and loft the handbrake on. He cranked the engine and the lorry ran backwards. He did not know that Mrs. Kingscott had been hurt until her son called out. He did not move the chock. It was possible that when releasing the clutch he might hava accidentally released the hand brake. The jury returned a. verdict for plaintiff, and judgment was entered accordingly.