DAMAGES AWARDED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22046, 28 February 1935, Page 14

DAMAGES AWARDED

LORRY-OWNER SUED

ACCIDENT IN KING COUNTRY JUDGMENT GIVEN FOR £450 _ » [from our own correspondent] HAMILTON, Wednesday Further evidence was heard before Mr. Justice Fair in the Supreme Court to-day in the case in which Murdoch Albert Welch, farmer, of Mokauiti (Mr. E. M. Mackersey), claimed £927 damages from James Allison, cartage contractor, of Mokauiti (Mr. J. F. Strang). Plaintiff was driving sheep along the road near his home on July 31 last when he was overtaken and knocked down by a motor-lorry owned by defendant and driven by an employee, John Hayes. Plaintiff suffered a broken leg and other injuries, and his four-year-old daughter, who was being carried on plaintiff's shoulders, suffered a broken arm. Plaintiff alleged thafc the accident was due to the negligence of defendant's servant. Defendant contended that the accident was due to plaintiff's own negligonco in stepping in front of tho lorry. Medical ovidonco was given by Drs. A. Joseph and G. W. Gowor. They considered that tho effect of plaintiff's injuries would bo practically negligible, as the fractured bones had knitted perfectly. Beatrice Annabelle Adams said she saw defendant's lorry approach tho scene of tho accident at an ordinary pace. Afterward she asked Hayes what had happened, and ho replied that the brakes had failed to act.

Albert James Adams, farmer, of Mokauiti, said defendant told him the brakes were the hydraulic type, and did not hold immediately they were applied. Defendant asked those present to say nothing about the brakes. For the defence, Mr. Strang said the driver did his best to avoid the accident. Even if the lorry had the best brakes in the world, the accident could not have been avoided.

Defendant, in evidence, said he was engaged in carrying logs from Mokauiti to Waimea. His lorry was equipped with hydraulic brakes, which he had adjusted every month or so. The brakes had been attended to two days before tho accident, and they were quite efficient. When the lorry was 14ft. away from plaintiff it was pulled to the right. Plaintiff had then started to cross the road. \

Defendant said it was impossible for Hayes to avoid the accident. If Hayes had swerved to the left, the occupants of the lorry might have been killed. Evidence that he had adjusted the brakes of defendant's lorry two days before the accident and that they were in good order when he had finished with them, was given by George Keith Barlow, motor mechanic, of Te Kuiti. After a short retirement, the jury found that defendant was negligent. Plaintiff was awarded £IOO special damages and £350 general damages. KNOCKED DOWN BY CAB HAWKER'S SUCCESSFUL CLADI [BY TELEGRAPH —PRESS ASSOCIATION*] WELLINGTON, Wednesday Damages amounting to £212 16s 6d were awarded to John Harris, a hawker, by Mr. Justice Reed, in the Supreme Court to-day, for injuries received when knocked down bv a motor-car driven by Garth Harold Grocott, a Dunedin company manager. The owner of the car, Henry Dryden Grocott, of Wellington, was cited as a second defendant. Harris, who alleged general negligence on the part of the driver of the car, suffered a fracture of the left leg and knee. The accident happened in Wellington last September.