Commissioner for Government Tram and Omnibus Services v Vickery

The Commissioner for Government Tram and Omnibus Services (the appellant) appealed to the High Court of Australia from a decision of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, which had dismissed the appellant's motion for a new trial. The original action was brought by Leslie Charles Vickery (the respondent) against the appellant for damages sustained as a passenger in a tram collision. A jury had found in favour of the respondent, awarding him £14,711 18s. 6d. in damages. The appeal concerned only the assessment of damages, not liability.

The legal issues before the High Court were whether the Supreme Court erred in law by refusing to grant a new trial on the ground of newly discovered evidence, and whether this fresh evidence was of sufficient weight to have materially influenced the jury's assessment of damages. The appellant argued that the discovered evidence demonstrated the respondent was not as incapacitated as he claimed, thereby affecting the damages awarded.

The High Court affirmed the principles governing applications for new trials based on fresh evidence, noting that such applications require great caution. The Court reiterated that the new evidence must possess such high probative value that it cannot reasonably be supposed the issue would have been found differently had it been presented at trial. In the context of damages, the effect of the newly discovered evidence must be such that it cannot reasonably be supposed the damages would have been fixed at a substantially more favourable amount for the party seeking the new trial. The Court found that the evidence concerning the respondent's limited work at a hotel, while potentially relevant, did not meet this stringent standard. The evidence was not definitively proven, and it was not established that the respondent had deliberately deceived the jury.

The High Court dismissed the appeal with costs.