Page 9 Advertisements Column 3

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 191, 10 February 1912, Page 9 (Supplement)

AN EXPENSIVE LAWSUIT. Thirty-five thousand pounds is estimated to be the cost of a case which came to an end last month in England, after ocupying a High Court Official Referee 18 days in London and Newcastle. The plaintiffs were the well-known shipbuilders, Messrs William Doxford and Sons, Limited, of Sunderland, and the defendants were the Wearmouth Coal Company, Limited. The enquiry concerned the amount of damages that Messrs Doxford had sustained in their shipbuilding yard by reason of subsidence set up by the colliery workings underneath. The subsidence was not disputed, but the defendant's plea was that the sum the .plaintiffs claimed (£190,000) was excessive. The enquiry is said to be the most, costly ever conducted. Counsels' fee are reported to have reached a total of £12,000, shorthand notes and their transcription over £IOOO, hotel expense! about £35,000 Plaintiffs were finally awarded a total of £102,276, with nine-, tenths of the costs. \ .