Hirst v Nominal Defendant

[2004] QSC 272

SUPREME COURT OF QUEENSLAND

CITATION:

Hirst v Nominal Defendant [2004] QSC 272

PARTIES:

GREGORY WARWICK HIRST
(plaintiff)
v
NOMINAL DEFENDANT
(defendant)

FILE NO/S:

BS 7921 of 2003

DIVISION:

Trial Division

PROCEEDING:

Trial

ORIGINATING COURT:

Supreme Court

Brisbane

DELIVERED ON:

27 August 2004

DELIVERED AT:

Brisbane

HEARING DATE:

17, 18, 19 August 2004

JUDGE:

McMurdo J

ORDER:

Judgment for the plaintiff in the sum of $322,096.32

CATCHWORDS:

TORTS – NEGLIGENCE – ESSENTIALS OF ACTION FOR NEGLIGENCE – DUTY OF CARE – MISCELLANEOUS CASES – where plaintiff was on-duty police officer driving a marked police car – where he measured that another car was speeding – where it failed to pull over after plaintiff signalled for it to stop – where pursuit – where police car collided with another vehicle – whether pursued driver owed a duty to avoid a risk of injury to the plaintiff through a deliberate response of the plaintiff

TORTS – NEGLIGENCE – ESSENTIALS OF ACTION FOR NEGLIGENCE – DAMAGE – CAUSATION – GENERALLY – whether chain of causation broken by plaintiff’s “voluntary” act of taking pursuit and driving at high speeds – whether question of causation should be answered with reference to scope or content of the duty of care – whether plaintiff’s injuries were a result of pursued driver’s negligence

TORTS – NEGLIGENCE – CONTRIBUTORY NEGLIGENCE – PARTICULAR CASES – ROAD ACCIDENT CASES – whether taking pursuit was reasonable in the circumstances – whether plaintiff was contributory negligent

TORTS – NEGLIGENCE – ROAD ACCIDENT CASES – ACTIONS FOR NEGLIGENCE – APPORTIONMENT OF DAMAGES – where plaintiff claims to suffer permanent physical disability and post traumatic stress disorder as a consequence of the accident – where calculation of economic loss – whether damages discounted for contingency that another event would result in same condition   

Civil Liability Act 2003, s 60(2)
Motor Accident Insurance Act 1994 (Qld), s 31, s 55E
 

Environment Agency v Empress Car Co (Abertillery) Ltd [1999] 2 AC 22, cited
Fox v Wood (1981) 148 CLR 438, applied
Haber v Walker [1963] VR 339, considered
Hopkins v WorkCover Queensland [2004] QCA 155, cited
March v E & M H Stramare Pty Ltd (1991) 171 CLR 506, applied
Marshall v Osmond [1983] 2 All ER 225, cited
Medlin v State Government Insurance Commission (1995) 182 CLR 1, applied
Reeves v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis [2000] 1 AC 360, cited
Schulz v Morrison (1984) 1 MVR 34, cited
Scott v Stanford (1991) 14 MVR 85, distinguished

COUNSEL:

M Grant-Taylor SC for the plaintiff

K N Wilson SC for the defendant

SOLICITORS:

Shultz Toomey O’Brien for the plaintiff

Hunt & Hunt for the defendant

1. McMURDO J:  On the night of 16 August 2001, the plaintiff was an on-duty police officer driving a marked police car along the Bruce Highway near Gympie.  He saw a blue car speeding in the opposite direction, and he performed a U-turn and began to follow it, signalling with his lights for the driver to…