HOSPITAL EXPRENSES

Taranaki Daily News, 25 November 1930, Page 10

HOSPITAL EXPRENSES

AWARD AS SPECIAL DAMAGES.

PAYMENT MUST BE MADE.

A pronouncement of interest in reference to the payment of hospital expensee by successful litigants was made by Mr. Justice Reed in the course of a iudo-ment delivered in the Supreme Court at Wellington by which a plaintiff was awarded general damages, and, ao part of the special damages, £37 16s hospital expenses. “The plaintiff is entitled to recover judgment for this amount, but it has been represented to me that m a large number of cases of this nature where the hospital expenses have been awarded as special damages the plaintiff, alter collecting, has appropriated the amount to himself and the hospital has not been paid,” said His Honour.■ of course, is dishonest and mightconceivably bring the defaulter within the criminal law.° I think the public-hos-pitals of the country are entitled to the protection of the Courts, and I have no doubt that there is jurisdiction to crive that protection. ° “Hospital expenses are only allowed as special damages on the assumption that they have been. paid, or on the implied promise of him yho them as damage sustained that they will be paid. Our Courts are ever Vigilant to prevent fraud and it is j a fraud to appropriate money to a different pul pose than that for which it has been received.” , His Honour, in awarding damages, ordered the amount of the hospital expenses to'be retained until a receipt or order for payment was presented., He added that he did not want it thought that he had any reason to suspect that the present suppliant would do anybut honourably pay the Hospital, but His Honour proposed to adopt the same course in every similar case in the future. . .