Dojcinoski v Aleksovski

SUPREME COURT OF THE AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY

Case Title:

Dojcinoski v Aleksovski & Anor

Citation:

[2015] ACTSC 357

Hearing Dates:

13, 14, 15 and 16 July 2015

DecisionDate:

18 November 2015

Before:

Mossop AsJ

Decision:

See [181]

Catchwords:

PERSONAL INJURY – Injury sustained as front seat passenger in single motor vehicle accident – liability admitted – assessment of damages – self-employed painter – reliance on contemporaneous records of treating general practitioner and treating psychologist – no issue of principle

Legislation Cited:

Civil Law (Wrongs) Act 2002 (ACT) s 45

Court Procedures Rules 2006 (ACT)

Cases Cited:

Pangallo v Smith [2015] ACTSC 313

Parties:

Ilo Dojcinoski (Plaintiff)

Trajce Aleksovski (First Defendant)

Insurance Australia Limited trading as NRMA Insurance (Second Defendant)

Representation:

Counsel

Mr A Bartley SC and Mr F Tuscano (Plaintiff)

Mr J Pappas (First and Second Defendants)

Solicitors

Ken Cush & Associates (Plaintiff)

Moray & Agnew (First and Second Defendants)

File Number:

SC 43 of 2013

Introduction

1. The plaintiff was involved in a motor vehicle accident that occurred on Kuringa Drive in Fraser in the Australian Capital Territory on 13 February 2010 when the car driven by the first defendant ran off the road and hit a tree.  Liability was admitted and the hearing involved an assessment of damages.

The plaintiff prior to the accident

1. The plaintiff was born in 1979 and was 35 years old at the time of the hearing.  He was born in Canberra.  Both parents had migrated from Macedonia.  He lived with his family in Kaleen.  He went to primary and secondary schools up to year 10 in Kaleen.  He attended Dickson College but left halfway through year 12.

1. After he left school he was employed as a painter by Canberra Homes.  He had obtained that employment through a friend of his brother.  He was trained on-the-job.  The work that he did involved the painting of new homes.  He stayed in that employment for around 12 months.  He next worked for Kenro Services doing painting.  That involved repainting houses and painting of extensions to houses.  He also worked for other contract painters at that time.

1. In 1998 he was involved in a car accident in Braddon or Ainslie.

1. In order to save money he also worked as a cleaner at night for an entity referred to as Rose Cleaning.  He worked there for three to six months.  While working for Rose Cleaning he suffered an injury to his right knee and back.  He received workers’ compensation for the period that he was off work.  He also worked as a security officer for Group 4 for a period of two to three years doing security screening at the Canberra Airport.  In 1999 he had another car accident in Braddon where a police car side swiped the vehicle that he was driving.

1. In June 1999 his right knee was injured in a shop when a picture frame fell off the rack and onto his knee.  He was off work for around six months.  He then worked for…