"TOSS FOR IT"

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 383, 18 November 1932, Page 6

"TOSS FOR IT"

OPOTIKI LAWYERS ADVISE SETTLING ACTION BY SPIN OF COIN ADYICE DISRE GARDED "It is, I believe, a perfectly legal method of settling a case," said Mr. Hodgson in tbe Opotiki Court yesterday when the case of Kidd v. Kelly was called. Mr. Hodgson, for the defence, suggested that he and his hrother solicitor toss a coin for the decision of a claim for 7s 6d. "Yes," remarked the Magistrate, Mr. S. L. Paterson, S.M., "I was thinlcing of suggesting some such method. Ht's no good your two clients spending £3 to £4 each scrapping like two prize roosters over 7s 6d. Mr. Bunkall for plaintiff, at first agreed to this method of settling the argument and the case was adjourned by court till the afternoon, each counsel departing balancing a coin on his finger.

So far no double-headed pennies are known to exist in Opotiki. Much Ado About Nothing However the advice was later disregarded and.M. O. Kidd later sued Percy Clive Kelly for 7s 6d, for work performed in charging a battery. Stanley Alwyn Foster, mechanic for Kidd, Ltd., gave evidence that he had told Kelly that one cell of the battery was defective and had been instructed to change the acid which had been done. This was absolutely denied by Kelly who alleged that he had not dealt with Foster, but with a man named Ross. He also said that he saw a battery with his name on it in the possession of a man named Weston who used to hire batteries from Kidds. Foster denied that his firm hired out its customer's batteries, but said that it maintained a rental stock. The Magistrate said that he did not know which to believe. The onus of the proof lay with the plaintiffs, Kidd Ltd., who had not discharged this and would therefore be non-suited.