Home | Databases | WorldLII | Search | Feedback National Court of Papua New Guinea

Eldik v Motor Vehicles Insurance (PNG) Trust [1994] PGNC 63; N1257 (5 September 1994)

N1257

PAPUA NEW GUINEA
[In the National Court of Justice]

WS 834 of 1991

JENNIFER ELDIK
Plaintiff

V

MOTOR VEHICLES INSURANCE (PNG) TRUST
Defendant

Mount Hagen: Woods J.
17 August & 5 September 1994

Damages - personal injuries - single woman - school teacher - post concussion syndrome - partial disability in hand.

Cases cited:
Endeken v State & MVIT [1988-89] PNGLR 286

P Kopunye for the Plaintiff.
P. Smith for the Defendant.

5 September 1994

WOODS, J. The Plaintiff is claiming damages for injuries she received in a motor vehicle accident on 30 June 1990 when she was travelling as a passenger in a PMV on the Jephcot Highway in the Madang Province. It is alleged that the PMV was so negligently driven that it went off the road and overturned whereby the Plaintiff sustained injuries.

Liability has been agreed between the parties on an apportionment of 70 to 30 percent in favour of the Plaintiff so this matter has come before me on an assessment of the damages. The Statement of Claim claims general damages and special damages and economic loss. However there have been no particulars of the Special Damages nor of the economic loss alleged and it was stated at the beginning of the hearing that there would be no claim for economic loss, the assessment being limited to general damages.

The Plaintiff states in evidence that when the vehicle overturned she sustained severe injuries on her head and lacerations on her face and legs. She said she received a crack on the left side of her skull which caused damage to the left side of the brain and this had the effect of paralysing her right hand. She refers to further problems caused by the crack in the skull namely a permanent hole in the skull which has caused continuing problems. As well she has found herself suffering headaches when she travels and when she reads a lot.

Immediately after the accident she says that she was admitted to Madang Hospital for 3 weeks. After that she was receiving physiotherapy for the rest of the year. At the time she was a teacher training student at the Madang Teachers College. After 1990 she came to the Highlands, her home place is Tambul in the Western Highlands, and for the past 3 years she has been teaching as a Community School Teacher. She states that she went to Mount Hagen Hospital and Goroka Hospital for some treatment last year; this appears to have been for the pus material coming out of the hole in the skull.

She states that she has been able to work as a teacher but she does have problems with writing as she was originally right handed and has had to master writing with her left hand and she is not as proficient as she was with the right hand, having to concentrate on the writing of every letter rather than the natural flow as normal. She is quite self conscious about the disability with her right hand. When demonstrating the use of the right hand it was obvious that she had difficulty manipulating the right hand. The Plaintiff is aged about 21 years and when asked if she wished to get married she said she would have really wanted to but as she has the problem with her hand and head she would be unable to do the normal work required from her as a housewife in the home and in a village environment. She stated that she has had requests for marriage but she has decided not to get married.

Evidence was given by a doctor who examined her over a year after the accident. From what he was told he observed that she seemed to suffer from a left parietal depressed fracture which had caused some loss of consciousness. He noted generally that apart from the complaint about the hand and the headaches she seemed to be a fit young woman not in any distress. However he did find that she had suffered some impairment of the right arm from the brain damage. However there were a number of discrepancies in his report which suggested that the assessment may not have been as careful as one would expect. There was a confusion over whether it was a post traumatic arthritis or as he attempted to correct in evidence a post concussion syndrome. He gave an assessment of 35 percent permanent disability as a result of the brain damage. However it was a bit confusing as to what this was, a general disability to her whole self or only the percentage disability to the right hand. Because of the confusion in certain dates and the confusion in the final diagnosis and the vagueness of the 35 percent permanent disability the court is unable to place much weight on the medical report evidence. So the court is only left with the Plaintiff’s own evidence.

However that still leaves it quite clear that there has been some impairment to the right hand as well as a problem with headaches and some continuing problem with the healing of the crack in the skull.

In the case Endeken v The State and the MVIT [1988-89] PNGLR 286 the court was faced with a plaintiff who had similar injuries to the plaintiff here, namely head injuries and unconsciousness which left her with a totally useless arm. However when one looks at the details in the Endeken case it is quite clear that her injuries were far more serious, the plaintiff there was a nurse who had to give up her vocation because of the injuries. In the case before me now the court has a woman who has made an effort to compensate for the injuries received and has entered her chosen career and been working in it since after the accident. It is quite clear that there is no psychiatric problem, only a physical problem.

In the Endeken case the Court awarded general damages of K36,000 to the plaintiff who was a very different person from what she was before the accident, there had been a complete personality change and she was left with a virtually useless arm. Where the plaintiff before the court now is a person who is still working at her vocation and has managed to cope very well but who will nevertheless continue to suffer the effects of the injuries for the rest of her life. It is now 6 years on since the award in the more serious Endeken case.

I will assess a figure of K28,000 for general damages for this Plaintiff. I will allow interest on K10,000 of that amount at 8 percent from the date of the issue of the writ to to-day.

I order Judgement for the Plaintiff in the sum of K21,942.80.

********************************

Lawyer for the Plaintiff: P Kopunye
Lawyer for the Defendant: Young & Williams