MOTOR-CYCLIST SUED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20640, 12 August 1930, Page 13

MOTOR-CYCLIST SUED.

I INJURIES TO TWO PERSONS. JURY AWARDS £SOO DAMAGES. [r.y TELEGRAPH. —PRESS ASSOCIATION.] WELLINGTON, Monday. General damages and special damages, amounting in all to £lll2 4s 6d. were claimed in the Supreme Court to-day by William MacGlashan Smith, a waterside worker, of Wellington, and his wife, Charlotte Smith, a bookseller, from Gilbert Jepson, a motor mechanic, as the sequel to an accident at Island Bay last November, in which Mrs. Smith was seriously injured. The case was heard by Mr. Justice Ostler and <i jury. Mrs. Smith and her daughter, aged 17, were injured when they were struck by a motor-cycle on a dark night. Mrs. Smith was severely hurt. Jepson was fined for negligent driving, and since then he had filed an admission of liability. Mr. W. E. Leicester for plaintiffs, said all the jury had to do was to decide reasonable damages. Since the accident Smith had kept his wife's shop going, and after paying »U expenses he had been able to make only a small sum. Plaintiff's homo had bren broken up since tho accident. Smith was a waterside worker, and for some years prior to 'he accident had earned from £3 10s to £4 10s a week. Since the accident lie had been ablo to work for only two days on the waterfront, and he was claiming at tho rate of £2 10s a week from November 1. Tho daughter had to bo boarded out and a claim was being made in this respect also. Evidence was given by Dr. Gillies, orthopaedic specialist, at Wellington Hospital, and the plaintiffs. Mr. Treadwoll, for defendant, invited the jury to come to tho conclusion that the size of tho claim was an outrage, and an insult to their intelligence. Counsel submitted that it was a classic example of an extortionate claim Acting on his advice, Jepson had paid £4OO into Court, and that, ho contended, was a fair amount, and perhaps even a greater amount than that which tho plaintiffs were entif led. The jury returned a verdict for £2OO general and for £3OO special damages.