WIDOW WINS CLAIM

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 833, 29 November 1929, Page 11

WIDOW WINS CLAIM

HUSBAND’S SUICIDE AFTER BEING INJURED £750 COMPENSATION (Special to TUB SUN) CHRISTCHURCH, Today A widow of a railway employee, Margaret Taylor, whose husband was injured by a truck on February 11, 1926, and who committed suicide on May 2, 1927, claimed £750 from the Crown in the Arbitration Court yesterday as compensation for his death. The claim was based on the allegation that Taylor was insane at the time he killed himself and that his insanity was a result of his injury. In her statement of claim, plaintiff said she and her four children, whose ages ranged from one to nine years, were total dependents of the deceased. By the accident her husband had suffered a fracture of the lamina of the fifth lumbar vertebrae, with attendant shock, and was thereafter incapacitated until his death. He was paid compensation under the Workers’ Compensation Act at the rate of £9 Ss a month up to the date of his death. Mr. 11. F. O’Leary, o£ Wellington, with him Mr. F. W. M. Cowlishaw, appeared lor plaintiff, and Mr. A. W. Brown for the Crown. Th case was heard by Mr. Justice Frazer. Medical evidence was given for claimant by officers of the Sunnyside Asylum, in which Taylor had been confined for a short time. They agreed that he was insane when he committed suicide and that, the insanity was due to shock arising from the accident. The defence also called expert medical witnesses. His Honour said mental cases were somewhat rare, but the law was quite clear on the subject. There was some conflict in the medical evidence, but the court was of the opinion that the man had received a severe physical and mental shock, and that the insanity which caused the suicide resulted directly from the shock, which had progressed in the usual way up to the time of his death. Plaintiff was entitled to compensation. It was left to the parties to fix the amount, with leave to refer the matter to the court if necessary.