INJURED DRIVER’S CLAIM

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 424, 4 August 1928, Page 11

INJURED DRIVER’S CLAIM

COMPENSATION AWARDED advice to insurance COMPANIES Compensation was awarded Bruce Allan Sproul, motor-lorry driver, in the Arbitration Court yesterday, in a claim against Grinter Brothers, con•ractors, in respect of internal injuries suffered by Sproul last January, when he fell on a sharp stake. Mr. Justice Frazer said that, in view j the unusual nature of the injury, plaintiff was entitled to any doubt regarding the extent of incapacitation. Compensation would be at the full rate from the time of the accident to date, and for a further 13 weeks; thereafter 10s a week for the rest of the period of liability. IVhen Mr. A. L. Monteith, employees’ representative, referred to a statement by Sproul that an insurance cojppany's doctor had advised him, for the sake of his mental health, to act an offer by the insurance com'any bis Honour said it should be ■fated that when an insurance company knows that a man having a compensation claim is represented by a solicitor, it should recognise that negotiations should be conducted througli the solicitor. His Honour said that the opinion was given apart from the actual circumstances of the case. “An insurance company has a right to "have a man medically examined," said Mr. Monteith, “but that does not -ive the doctor the right to give advice over the heads of a man’s legal advisers, and try to influence him to come to a settlement.’’