Noble v O'Brien

[2010] ACTSC 29

MICHELLE NOBLE v JOSHUA O’BRIEN
[2010] ACTSC 29 (9 April 2010)

DAMAGES – personal injury – whiplash injury to neck and shoulders – injury to wrist – cartilage tear requiring surgical repair – significant reduction in earning capacity – no issue of principle

Hughes v Janrule Pty Ltd [2010] ACTSC 5
Goldsborough v O’Neill (1996) 131 FLR 104

No.  SC 218 of 2007

Judge:             Master Harper
Supreme Court of the ACT

Date:              9 April 2010

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE     )
  )          No.  SC 218 of 2007
AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY )

BETWEEN:MICHELLE NOBLE

Plaintiff

AND:JOSHUA O’BRIEN

Defendant

ORDER

Judge:  Master Harper
Date:  9 April 2010
Place:  Canberra

THE COURT ORDERS THAT:

Judgment be entered for the plaintiff in the sum of $502,064.00.

1. This is an action for damages for personal injury arising out of a motor vehicle collision.  On 8 September 2005, the plaintiff was driving her car on Scollay Street, Greenway.  She stopped at an intersection and the defendant’s car ran into the rear of her vehicle.  Liability is admitted.

2. The plaintiff was born in 1968 and is aged forty-two.  She has two sons, aged seventeen and nine.  She separated from their father late in 2004 and has lived with her sons in a house in Tuggeranong since then.

3. She left school at the age of sixteen, before completing year 10.  She worked at a bakery for about two years, following which she worked in childcare for about seven years.  In 1999 she obtained part-time work with ACTION, the ACT public transport operator.  She became a fulltime employee there in September 2002, and was in that position at the time of the accident.   She continued her employment there for another three years, resigning in October 2008.

4. The collision was a major one.  There was considerable damage to the plaintiff’s car.  The damage was repaired, the repairs being covered by the plaintiff’s insurance.  There is no claim for that damage in this action.  The force of the impact was sufficient to push the plaintiff’s car into the intersection.  She was able to drive it off the road and on to the grass verge.  She felt shaken up but was not immediately aware of any injury.

5. She woke in the early hours of the following morning with pain in the neck and the right wrist.  She was stiff and unable to sit up, having to roll sideways to get out of bed.

6. Her family doctor at that time was Dr Calder at the Tuggeranong Square Medical Practice.  She was unable to see Dr Calder the day after the accident, and was seen by another doctor at the practice.  He reassured her that she should make a recovery over the next two or three days, and recommended that she take Panadol as required.  He also suggested some exercises, and gave her a certificate for time off work.

7. She attended the practice four days later and saw Dr Calder.  She was referred for physiotherapy.  In November 2005 she commenced a…