DAMAGES FOB DEATH OF BOY

Taranaki Daily News, 26 August 1930, Page 12

DAMAGES FOB DEATH OF BOY

NON-SUIT POINT DISMISSED. •> JUDGMENT ENTERED FOR £250. Argument was heard by Mr. Justice Ostler yesterday on the claim by Cecil Ernest Jordan for compensation for the loss of his son Lawrence, who died as the result of being struck by a motorcar on the Mangaone Hill bn October 5, 1929. ' . The verdict of the jury on Saturday exonerated Douglas Lobb, the driver of the car, from blame and awarded full damages, £250, against Sydney George Bellringer, whose car had moved in between Lobb’s car and another car just before the accident; ,The entry of judgment .was ..delayed pending consideration of the law points raised.' • .. Mr. ; R. H.LQuilliam submitted that fib- evidence -had been adduced showing that; the negligence of Bellringer was the cause of the : accident, ft had not been shown, he ’said, that the fact of; Bellringer moving, in in fronttof Lobb had forced. Lobb to leave the bitumen .surface and strike the boy walking on the roadside. Counsel submitted, j in ad-dition,-.that there was.no evidence of pecuniary loss through the death of the boy, though he admitted. that 'was a more difficult point than that relating to negligence. .He . contended.. that at best there-could-be said to have been only a speculative, prospect of pecuniary benefit to the parents had the boy lived. His Honour said he did not desire to hear Mr. C. H. Weston, representing C. E. Jordan. Although there was perhaps not very much evidence against Bellringer he was satisfied there was sufficient for the case to go to the jury. It had been proved was a great deal of traffic about,'this- being the day of the aerial pageant, that the cars were going downhill, narrowing to a bridge at the bottom, that the road surface was uneven,' and his Honour believed the circumstances warranted special care by motorists. Bellringer had endeavoured to pass two other cars in circumstances under which he could not see far enough ahead to know whether anything in his way was coming from the opposite direction.

As a matter of fact, there, was not room and Bellringer himself had said he had had to edge in again between the two cars. In doing that he came within five feet of the car in front and did not know what room he had left Lobb’s car behind. It was a dangerous thing for any motorist to drive within five feet of the car in front of him. There was evidence that Bellringer had created a position of emergency. “I should like, to say this also,” continued his Honour. “If I had been acting as the judge of the facts I 'should have come to the same decision as the jury did.” Referring to the damages, he said he thought .there had been a reasonable prospect of the parents obtaining a pecuniary benefit if their boy had continued to live. He was a bright boy and was already a help in the home. His Honour- then-entered judgment - for Jordan . against \ Bellringer for • £250, with costs according to’scale, witnesses 1 expenses and disbursements; Bellringer also to pay the costs of the successful defendant, Lobb,' witnesses’ expenses and disbursements/