Mead v Kerney

In *Mead v Kerney*, the New South Wales Court of Appeal considered an appeal and cross-appeal concerning damages awarded for personal injury, specifically economic loss. The dispute centred on the assessment of the plaintiff's lost earning capacity.

The primary legal issues before the Court of Appeal were whether the trial judge erred in assessing the plaintiff's economic loss by reference to the earnings of comparable employees, and whether the plaintiff's theoretical earning capacity should be valued when there was no reasonable prospect of obtaining work to utilise it.

The Court of Appeal affirmed the principles that theoretical earning capacity has no value if there is no reasonable prospect of obtaining work to utilise it. The Court reasoned that the trial judge had correctly estimated the plaintiff's lost earnings by reference to those of comparable employees, finding that this approach adequately reflected the plaintiff's actual economic loss.

The appeal and cross-appeal were dismissed, with the Court ordering that the parties bear their own costs.