Cornilliac v St. Louis

• Jurisdiction: Trinidad & Tobago
• Judge: Wooding, C.J.,McShine, J.A.,Hyatali, J.A.
• Judgment Date: 11 January 1965
• Neutral Citation: TT 1965 CA 3
• Date: 11 January 1965
• Court: Court of Appeal (Trinidad and Tobago)
• Docket Number: Civil Appeal No. 30 of 1964

Cornilliac

and

St. Louis

Wooding, C.J., McShine, J.A.; Hyatali, J.A.

Civil Appeal No. 30 of 1964

Court of Appeal

Damages - Personal injuries — Whether assessment inordinately low

Practice and Procedure - Pleadings — Whether in claim for general damages for personal injuries loss of pecuniary interest must be specifically pleaded

Held: The consideration which ought properly to have been borne in mind in assessing the general damages were the nature and extent of the injuries sustained, the nature and gravity of the resulting physical disability, pain and suffering, loss of amenities, the extent to which pecuniary prospects were affected. The sum awarded as general damages was a wholly unrealistic estimate of the damages sustained and ought to be increased. Appeal allowed with costs.

Held: No such averment was necessary since the loss of pecuniary prospects was not an item of special damage but one of the class items to be taken into account in the assessment of general damages.

Facts: Appellant was involved in a motor vehicle accident. Awarded $7,500 for general damages. Appellant appealed. Argued that this was wholly inadequate

Facts: Appellant was involved in a motor vehicle accident. In his statement of claim there was no averment specifying loss of pecuniary prospects. At trial question arose as to whether appellant was debarred from claiming damages for this because of his omission.

Judgment of the Court:

1 This is an appeal on a question of damages. The appellant was a victim of a motor vehicle accident on November 16, 1958, and was awarded $8535.80 as compensation for the injuries, loss and expense which he thereby incurred. This sum included $1,035.80 being the whole of the special damage claimed. In effect, therefore, the appeal is against the assessment at $7500.00 of the general damages allowed. This assessment, the appellant contends, was wholly inadequate.

2 It is common ground that, in order to succeed, the appellant must show that the amount awarded was so inordinately low as to be a wholly erroneous estimate of the damage sustained. It is essential therefore, to recapitulate the several considerations which the learned judge had to bear in mind when making his assessment. I think they were accurately summarised by the respondent's counsel substantially as follows: (i) the nature and extent of the injuries sustained; (ii) the nature and gravity of the resulting physical disability; (iii) the pain and suffering which had to be endured; (iv) the loss of amenities suffered; and (v) the extent to which, consequentially, the appellant's pecuniary prospects have been materially affected. I shall set out the relevant facts separately under each head.

3 The nature and extent of the injuries sustained: The appellant was occasioned a compound, comminuted, complicated fracture of the humerus in the middle of the shaft and a fracture of the upper end of the radius and the ulna at the elbow joint. By “complicated” is meant that the fracture involved the elbow and the radial nerve and artery. He also suffered from shock and haemorrhage. The injuries were so extensive that at first it was feared that his right arm would have to be amputated, but this was avoided, happily, by the skilful administrations of his surgeon.

4 The nature and gravity of the resulting physical disability: The fractures have healed but with a residuum of deformity. There is considerable limitation of movement of the joint which in the course of time worsened because of new bone formation from the healing of the fracture. Its present range of movement is no more than about 20°, so that the appellant is unable to touch his face, and therefore to shave or feed himself or discharge any ordinary functions involving a range of movement with his right hand, and in addition the hand has lost some of its grip. Arthritis, too, has resulted: it already is major and is likely to become worse.

5 The pain and suffering endured: The appellant experienced intense pain throughout his stay in a nursing home for the twelve days immediately following the accident. It was so intense that he had to be given sedatives. At one time the plaster cast in which the arm was placed after the bones had been set had to be opened up because the pain in the limb had become intolerable. During the whole of the period until the nerves healed, which the surgeon reckoned to be anything between 9 and 18 months, he was subjected to a great deal of pain - diminishing in intensity, it is true, but nevertheless always perceptibly there.

6 The loss of amenities suffered: The appellant had been an active, physically fit, outgoing man who was 48 years old at the time of the accident. He used to enjoy playing music, mainly jazz and calypso, on both the saxophone and the piano and was full of the zest of a more than ordinarily successful life. He can no longer play. And his outdoor activities must necessarily now be limited. For him, therefore, much of the fun and sparkle has gone from living.

7 The effect on pecuniary prospects: At the time of the accident the appellant was assistant to the superintendent in charge of the cementing operations of Halliburton Tucker Ltd. and was paid a salary of $865.00 per month. He was also given a bonus, probably (as is customary in this country) at the end of each year. He was being groomed to take over the superintendency when the contract of its expatriate holder came to an end, and it is practically certain that but for the disabilities which he has been occasioned he would now have been filling that berth. This is confined by the fact that a junior whom he had assisted in training was promoted to be superintendent when the contract of the expatriate ended in 1962. As the normal age of retirement was 60 years, it seems clear that the appellant lost the prospect of being for eight years in that post, which carries a salary of...