Clarke v Freund

The appeal in *Clarke v Freund* concerned a motor vehicle accident involving a pedestrian and a driver. The pedestrian emerged onto the road from between stationary cars in the outside lane, and the driver allegedly failed to slow down. The case was heard in the Court of Appeal of New South Wales.

The central legal issues before the court were whether the driver was negligent in failing to slow down, and whether the pedestrian was contributorily negligent by emerging onto the road from between stationary vehicles.

The Court of Appeal found that the driver was not negligent. The court reasoned that the driver was entitled to assume that a pedestrian would not emerge from a position of concealment between stationary cars into the path of oncoming traffic. The driver had no reason to anticipate such an event and therefore had no duty to slow down in anticipation of it. The court also found that the pedestrian was contributorily negligent. The pedestrian's actions in emerging from between stationary cars without looking for oncoming traffic were deemed to be the primary cause of the accident.

The appeal was allowed, and the orders of the lower court were set aside.