DAMAGES AWARD

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24907, 21 June 1946, Page 3

DAMAGES AWARD

APPEAL COURT’S DECISION INJURIES SUFFERED BY z TALLY CLERK (P.A.) WELLINGTON. June 20. The Court of Appeal to-day commenced hearing an appeal brought on behalf of the Wellington Harbour Board against a decision of the Supreme Court given in February, in an action brought by Charles Henry Tollan against the Wellington Harbour Board and the Port Line, Ltd., for damages in respect of injuries sustained by Tollan in January, 1945, when struck by an empty loading tray being lowered by a crane to the wharf when Tollan was performing duties as a tally clerk alongside the Ship Port Melbourne, at the Wellington wharves. Tollan at the time was working ifx and about a railway truck on the wharf, and butter was being loaded into the ship on trays by workers, some of whom were employees of the Harbour Board and some of the Waterfront Control Commission. By the Waterfront Control Emergency Regulations, 1944, where any injury is caused by an act or omission of an etnployee of the commission in loading or unloading cargo, that employee is deemed to be employed by the owners, agents, or master of the ship concerned. The Port Line, Ltd., was sued under this regulation as owner of the ship Port Melbourne. In answering the issues agreed upon by the jury held that It was negligent to place the railway truck concerned in the position it was in, but that such negligence was not the substantial cause of the accident, and that there was negligence in the operation of the crane by the crane driver, such negligence being the substantial cause of the accident. The jury awarded £4OO general damages. On motions for judgment on the basis of this verdict, the Supreme Court gave judgment for the plaintiff for £4OO general and £322 8s special damages, and costs, and ordered the Harbour Board to pay the costs of the Port Line, Ltd. The Harbour Board is appealing from this judgment on the grounds that it is erroneous in law and fact.