HUTT ROAD ACCIDENT

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 229, 22 June 1921, Page 8

HUTT ROAD ACCIDENT

SECOND CIVIL ACTION AGAINST MOTORIST

WIDOW CLAIMS £3OOO DAMAGES

For the fifth time since th e accident on the night of October 2 last the Hutt Road gig and motor collision has been the subject of legal proceedings. In the Supreme Court yesterday, before His Honour Mr. Justice Sim and a special jury of 12 (of which Mr. W. Fuller was foreman), the widow of William Hus- • kisson, who was injured by and died in hospital subsequent to the accident, Ethel Rebecca Huskisson, sued Guy Leslie Fulton for 413000 damages, on the grounds that; (1) The defendant drove his motor-car at an excessive pace; (2) that he failed to keep a proper lookout; (o) that he gave no warning of his approach. The plaintiff alleged that the collision occurred as the result of the defendant’s "negligently and unskilfully driving a motor-car." Tho action was brought under the Death by Accident Compensation Act, 1908, on behalf of tho plaintiff and her two children. The facts of tho case have several times boon published. Tho collision occurred at about 6.20 p.m. on tho night of October 2, 1920, when Huskisson and a. man named Croft were driving from Petone in a one-horse gig, the property of Croft. A collision took place with a motor-car driven by Fulton, travelling in tho same direction as the gig. Huskisson died on November 24, and after his death Fulton was arraigned on a charge of manslaughter and acquitted; and a civil action brought by Croft against Fulton resulted in 41150 damages being awarded—a majority verdict. A motion for an appeal against the verdict in the civil action will bo heard shortly. • Mr. H. F. O’Leary appeared for tho plaintiff, and Mr. A. Gray, K.C., with him, Mr. D. P. Hoggard, for the defendant. In her statement of claim the plaintiff alleged she and her children had suffered damage as a result of the defendant's negligence, as the deceased "was the sole support of his wife and children, and by his death they havo lost all means of support." Evidence for the plaintiff, heard yesterday, was, in the main, similar to that heard at the inquest in the manslaughter charge and in the previous civil action. Evidence as to there haying been a light on the rear of the gig —disputed consistently by the defendant —was given by Croft, who was support-

ed by other witnesses. The widow of the deceased, Ethel Huskisson, said she had had no 1 ' means other than the earnings of her husband -about 416 12b. a week. There were two children of the marriage. Often he had , done work on his own account, and wit- ' ness received £5 10s. a week from her husband, and out of that sum kept the house going. The house had been purchased in the witness's name. Her husband was in good health prior to the accident, she said. Evidence as to a "safe speed was given by Andrew James Patterson, assistant city engineer, who added that the old-fashioned gig lampysuch as Croft's, which was produceci m Court was no use in these days of motor traction. To use such a lamp was to take a risk. Eric Howard Manley Luke, house surgeon at the Wellington Public Hospital, described the various operations on Huskisson’s fractured thigh. At the last operation, which commenced at 12.20 p m., Huskisson collapsed about 20 minutes before the operation would have ended, and died at 10 minutes to 4 p.m. The last operation, in the opinion ot the witness, was absolutely necessary, as without it .the leg would have been useless; perhaps better off. To the Judge: The operation was a serious one, attended "with a fair amount of shock. . , Mr Gray cross-examined at length. At the time of the operation witness said there were six assistant house surgeons in hospital. None, he thought had been in practice, and none had been out of New Zealand since qualifying at Otago University. The fracture was "simple" in medical ferine, and there were no complications. It was not ditncnlt to treat ordinarily. The muscles had a great deal to do with the immobility" of the leg. Witness took over the ward where lay the deceased on November 3, and saw him there. Massage treatment was ordered after November 6, without success, to ensure the reunion of the bones. The anaesthetic at the last operation was administered by Drs. Park and Hutcheson. The Court adjourned at 5.15 p.m. until IQ B.xm bo-day.