AFTER THREE TRIALS

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 347, 7 May 1928, Page 14

AFTER THREE TRIALS

DAMAGES AGAINST HARBOUR BOARD FURTHER STAGE IN ACTION After three trials, the nowfamiliar case of Hoy and Bennett still drags on. The case was brought before Mr. Justice Blair in the Supreme Court this morning, when counsel for the defendant moved for judgment. On March 21, 1927, while Frederick Lee Bennett and Frederick Hoy. waterside workers, were assisting to unload the Wingatui at the Prince's Wharf, a bale of goods fell from a chute, striking first one and then the other, and inflicting severe injuries in both cases. The contractor. Mr. Anderson, was first sued for damages before Mr. Justice Stringer, but the jury could not agree. The second trial was taken before Mr. Justice Herdman, and the jury found for Mr. Anderson. At the third trial, before Mr. Justice Blair, the Auckland Harbour Board was cited as defendant, and in this case the jury found for the plaintiffs, awarding Bennett £494 damages, and Hoy £491 6s 6d. Th jury, by a majority of ten to two, held that the accident was due to the negligence of the board, and by a majority of eleven to one that such negligence consisted in not providing sufficient protection to prevent goods going over the side of the chute, and in not providing sufficient supervision over the class of goods sent down the chute. In moving for judgment for the Harbour Board, Mr. R. McVeagh said he did so on the ground that upon the finding of the jury no answer had been given to two of the seven issues, and the defendant board was entitled to the decision. He moved, too, that the answers of the jury to the first, second, and the fourth issues be set aside, and a new trial ordered, on the ground that the answers given were against the weight of evidence. Mr. P. J. O’Regan and Mr. J. J. Sullivan, for the plaintiffs, submitted legal argument in favour of judgment for Hoy and Bennett.