ACCIDENT ON SHIP

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 137, 7 December 1938, Page 15

ACCIDENT ON SHIP

LIABILITY DISPUTED

The Shaw Savill and Albion Co., Ltd., and the Wellington Harbour Board disputed liability in the Supreme Court today for an accident that befell Francis Thomas Cropp, a waterside worker, of Wellington, on November 29, 1937, when he was unloading butter in a hold on the Tamaroa. The company and the board had paid damages to Cropp in settlement of his claim, agreeing that he was entitled to recover from one or the other, or both; and today they asked the Court to determine the respective liability.

The case was heard by the Chief Justice (Sir Michael Myers).' Mr. E. D. Blundell appeared for the plaintiff, the Shaw Savill Company, and Mr. J. F. B. Stevenson for the board.

Cropp, said the statement of claim, was removing cases of butter from a tray lowered by crane into the No. 2 hold, and was struck by another tray containing cases of butter, which had been lowered into the hold by a wharf crane operated by Ernest Fisher, a crane-driver in the employment of the board. Cropp was paid £146 10s by the plaintiff as worker's compensation, and in May of this year he brought an action against both the plaintiff and the defendant. Each denied negligence, but agreed that Cropp was entitled to recover separately or jointly. As a result of negotiations, Cropp was paid £994 19s 3d by the company and the board on July 28, without prejudicing subsequent Court action to determine the respective liabilities. The total amount paid to Cropp, including worker's compensation and medical expenses, was £1142 9s 3d. The company asked judgment for that amount against the board, or such portion of the sum as the Court considered equitable. The. hearing of evidence is proceeding.

De Witt Claremont Smith (Mr. W. H. Cunningham) was granted a decree nisi by Mr. Justice Quilliam, in the Supreme Court today, against Gertrude Smith (Mr. W. J. Kemp), on the grounds of desertion.