MOTOR CLAIM JUDGMENT

Taranaki Daily News, 8 August 1930, Page 10

MOTOR CLAIM JUDGMENT

THIRD PARTY PJSK INDEMNITY.

RIGHT HAND RULE DISCOUNTED. ! Unusual in the respect that it is the | first case on record in Taranaki where j an insurance company has been joined as third party to indemnify defendant, also in the respect that it is one of those occasions when plaintiff’s breach of the right-hand rule in a motor accident did not prevent him from recovering, the reserved judgment of Mr. R. W. Tate, S.M., on the civil action Stockman v. Clout contains much of interest both to legal men and to the gen- ■ era! public. ~ ‘ . -' ! j The action arose from a collision at ' I Ngaere between a motor-cycle ridden by plaintiff, Owen Stockman (Ngaere), and George Clout 1 (New Plymouth), defendant. The reserved decision was read at the Stratford Court yesterday by the clerk (Mr. J. W. Pboley). ' Judgment was given plaintiff for £l2l. 7s Gd,. with costs £l5 4s 3d. Mr. N. H. Moss appeared for plaintiff while Mr. A. Chrystal was counsel for defendant. The plaintiff claimed £155 7s 6d for damages arising out of a collision bn November 23, 1929, at the intersection of Cheal. and Mountain Roads at Ngaere. During the hearing and by consent the N.LM.U. Insurance Company was brought in as a third party, the company having under The' Motor Vehicles Insurance (Third Party Risks) Act, 1928, indemnified defendant against his liability to pay damages as provided and limited by the Act. . On the day of the accident, said Mr. Tate, plaintiff was riding • his • motorcycle out of Cheal Road on to Mountain Road intending to turn towards Stratford. ' While entering on the Mountain Road plaintiff saw defendant’s car about a chain and a-half away travelling at a speed he estimated as 30 miles an hour. Plaintiff continued to cross the intersection at not more than 15 . miles an hour but .’defendant changed his course to the right, and collided with plaintiff just off the tar-surfaced portion of the road oh defendant’s incorrect ‘ side. ’ “Of defendant’s negligence I have no doubt,” stated .the. magistrate. The question was whether plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence, he continued. He approached the intersection at 15 miles an hour and proceeded slowly, across the Mountain Road. He saw defendant one and a-half chains away. Nevertheless he crossed in breach of the right-hand rule. “However, 1 do not think the breach was either the cause or a contributory cause of the accident,” Mr. Tate said. Defendant’s negligence was the whole cause of the collision. He veered to the right when, had he continued on his correct side of the road there would have been no accident.- He was clearly under the influence of liquor and his movement to the right was caused by the consequent impairment of his faculties and not by his having been put into a perilous and difficult position by the action of plaintiff. The incident occupied a very short time but at the time defendant turned to the right on to his wrong side he had a clear opportunity to avoid the accident, for plaintiff was plainly proceeding across 'the road. Any sober driver would have or should have continued on his course on the left edge of the asphalt. . As the damages claimed embraced both personal injuries and damage to property, and as it was admitted that the indemnity of the N.I.M.U. Insurance Company did not extend to . damage to property, he. divided the damage into two categories. < For personal injuries, hospital and doctor’s fees, damage to clothing, wages paid for the conduct of the farm during nine weeks’ total disablement • Mr. Tate awarded plaintiff £7l 7s Cd, plus £5O for damage to the motor-cycle, making a total of £T2I 7s Gd. • . • WOMEN’S DIVISION SOCIAL. An enjoyable social run by the members of the Toko branch of the Women’s Division of the Farmers’ Union was held in the Coronation Hall on Wednesday. A good crowd of people attended and joined in the old-fashioned dances, community singing and competitions. The music for the dancing was supplied by Mesdames, Maunsell, Chainey and Vaughan and Misses Zeta Griffiths and Laurel Sextus. Mrs. Vaughan and Mr. Bnrgham lead the community singing. Mr. Burgham. sang a comic song. The Monte Carlo waltz was won by Mss Nellie Burgham and Mr. Laurie Martin. An animal drawing competition organised by Miss Leydon was won by Mrs. Fetch . and her partner Mr. Fetcli. A parcel with many wrappers and as many directions, made up by Miss Fan Jones, caused much amusement. Mr. A. Dagg untied the last wrapper and thus won the hidden treasure. Not the smallest of the evening’s pleasures was the supper provided by the ladies. KING'S THEATRE TALKIES. ' “CHILDREN OF PLEASURE.” “Children of Pleasure,” Metro-Gold-wyn-Mayer singing and dancing romance of Tin Pan Alley, will be screened finally to-night at the Kings Iheatrc. The cast includes Lawrence Gray, Wynne Gibcon, Helen Johnson, Benny Rubin, Kenneth Thomson, Lee llolilmar and May Boley. The picture concerns the romance of a Broadway song writer with the daughter of a millionaire ami revolves about the conflict between the two classes. The settings are laid in the homes of society, in Broadway music publishing offices, on vaudeville staged and in night clubs and are said to have been constructed without segard for expense. The interiors were done in a modernistic motif and contain a number of novel features among which is a fireplace which burns quicksilver and which report has it wiil be used for the first time on the screen in this production. The effect is produced by vertical bars of radiating light and I heat made by long glass tubas in which I glowing mercury vapor is generated by an electric current.