Milas v GM Holden Ltd (No.2)

Milas and GM Holden Ltd were parties to a dispute before the Supreme Court of South Australia. The proceedings concerned a claim for damages for personal injury arising from a motor vehicle accident.

The central legal issue before the Court was the assessment of damages, specifically the appropriate method for calculating the plaintiff's loss of earning capacity. This involved determining whether the plaintiff's pre-accident earning capacity should be assessed by reference to his actual earnings or by reference to what he might have earned in a different, more lucrative occupation.

Judge O'Sullivan reasoned that the plaintiff's loss of earning capacity should be assessed by reference to his actual earnings prior to the accident, rather than a hypothetical, more profitable occupation. The Court applied the principle that damages for loss of earning capacity are to compensate for the loss of the ability to earn income, and this ability is best measured by the income the plaintiff was actually earning or was reasonably likely to earn in the future, considering his circumstances and capabilities at the time of the injury. The Court distinguished between a loss of earning capacity and a loss of a specific job, finding that the plaintiff had not demonstrated a reasonable prospect of obtaining employment in the more lucrative field he claimed he might have pursued.

The Court ordered that damages be assessed on the basis of the plaintiff's pre-accident earning capacity.