APPEAL DISALLOWED

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 17946, 25 November 1932, Page 6

APPEAL DISALLOWED

CLAIM FOR INSURANCE SEQUEL TO FATALITY (Per Press Association.) WELLINGTON, this day. The Court of Appeal to-day delivered its reserved decision in the case of .Marjorie Trickett v. the Queensland Insurance Company, judgment being m favor of the respondent insurance company. In a joint judgment, Mr. Justice McGregor and Mr. Justice Kennedy said they wore not satisfied that the judgment of the Chief Justice in tho court below was wrong on the facts. In their opinion it was not necessary for the company to establish that tho deceased, VViggs, knew of the damaged state of his car, but even assuming that that knowledge was necessary, then, from the evidence, it appeared to them that he must have known that his car was being driven without lights, and, consequently, in a damaged or unsafe condition. Mr. Justice Herd man dissented from the other members of the court, holding that it was incumbent on the company to show that Wiggs was aware of the unsafe condition of the car. and tho evidence did not establish that knowledge. Costs on Hie highest scale were allowed to the company. The case arose out of a collision which took place about midnight on November 17, 1930, on tlm Il.ntt- road, between Ngahauritngn and Kaiwarra. between a car driven by Alfred John Wiggs, who was killed in the collision, and another car owned by Dr. Christina Findlater, and driven by her sister, Anna. Findlater. Mrs. Trickett, daughter of the •late Alfred John Wiggs, brought a claim against the Queensland Insurance Company, Limited, claiming £IOOO as being due to Wiggs’ personal representatives under a comprehensive) insurance policy issued by tho company over Wiggs’ car. The company disclaimed liability, contending that Wiggs’ car at (ho time of the accident was being driven without lights, and that a certain condition in the policy provided that if the car was being driven in a damaged or unsafe condition, no liability should attach to the company, applied