Masrour v Danzey
[2013] NSWLC 9
At a glance
Source factsCourt
Local Court of NSW
Decision date
2013-04-12
Source
Original judgment source is linked above.
Judgment (14 paragraphs)
Legal Background 1This case concerns companies that offer hire cars on credit for drivers whose cars have been damaged in an accident caused by the other driver. The companies operate in the UK and Australia. Sometimes their advertisements may be seen on the back of buses in Sydney.1 In return for hiring cars without requiring upfront payment, that is, on credit, the companies take over the right of the driver to recoup the cost from the insurers of the at-fault driver. The daily hire charges of a credit car hire company can be twice that of mainstream car hire companies.2 2Insurance companies have opposed the claims of the credit car hire companies in the courts, in part because of the higher payouts in damages incurred than if the plaintiff had used a mainstream car hire company. Insurers lost the first legal challenge, in which they alleged the agreements were champertous3. The insurers won the next legal challenge, when they successfully argued that the drivers' agreements with the credit car hire providers were in breach of the UK Consumer Credit Act 1974, however this was a breach readily corrected by redrafting of the contracts.4 English courts have now established a method of assessing damages at a rate lower than the rate charged by the credit hire car companies when non-compensable benefits are received by the driver.5 The principles in Dimon v Lovell - that where there are non-compensable benefits to the driver the court should assesss and then award damages at the "basic hire rate" if it is lower than the rate paid by the driver for a credit hire car and is reasonable to do so - have been recently re-affirmed.6 3In NSW, these matters usually come before the courts in the Small Claims or General Division of the Local Court. The decision in Chong v Berry7 followed Dimon v Lovell and held that the credit car hire companies cannot recoup the full amount of their daily rate because the driver obtained non-compensable benefits of credit and legal services. 4However, in Harb v Marchbank,8 a decision in the Small Claims Division of the Local Court, the credit hire car company was awarded the full amount that it charged the driver, even though the daily hire rate of $400 per day was twice that of a mainstream hire company. In Harb, the Assessor acknowledged that there was a range of rates available from hire companies, and then determined that because drivers have to make arrangements at short notice they were "less likely to avail themselves of a hire rate that is in the lower range of the available market rates". The Assessor did not analyse the significance of the differences in the rates or allude to whether any of the rates represented the inclusion of non-compensable benefits. The Assessor looked only at the nature of the replacement vehicle, not at any associated benefits. Appeals from the Small Claims Division to the District Court may only be made on the grounds of lack of jurisdiction or denial of procedural fairness, and an appeal by the insurers in Harb was dismissed.9 5In the Local Court interlocutory decision of Fang v Koumoulekis10 the Court held that there was insufficient conflict between Chong v Berry and Harb v Marchbank to justify transferring the case to the General Division. The Defendants in the case before me argued that the decision in Fang was based on a misquotation from Chong v Berry. In Fang, the quotation was set out as follows:11 As Dillon LCM noted in Chong v Berry (para 72) ".. in cases were non-compensable benefits are received or in issue, what such a plaintiff is required to prove is that he or she acted reasonably honestly and at arms length from the hire company. Whether the hire company acts straightforwardly is irrelevant provided the plaintiff is straight forward. Where non-compensable benefits are in issue, the plaintiff bears the onus of proving that he or she acted reasonably and the sum claimed for hire of a replacement vehicle corresponds to a market rate" [para 31]. 6I am satisfied that the above extract from Chong v Berry was misquoted in Fang. The remarks in Chong v Berry were as follows (words missing from the quotation in Fang but present in the decision in Chong underlined by myself):12 72 In my view, in cases where no non-compensable benefits are received or in issue, what such a plaintiff is required to prove is that he or she acted reasonably, honestly and at arms' length from the hire company. Whether the hire car company acts straightforwardly is irrelevant provided that the plaintiff is "straightforward"... 73 In general terms, however, I agree that where no non-compensable benefits are in issue, the plaintiff bears the onus of proving that he or she acted reasonably and the sums claimed for hire of a replacement vehicle correspond to a market rate. 7In the above quotation from Chong v Berry, Magistrate Dillon was referring not to the process for assessing non-compensable benefits (such as those offered by credit car hire companies) but only to claims that did NOT involve non-compensable benefits (such as the rates of mainstream car hire companies). I am satisfied that Chong v Berry did not depart from the principles set out in Dimon v Livesey regarding the reduction of an award for damages to take into consideration the non-compensable benefits offered by credit hire companies. 8In the case before me, in the General Division, both parties seek to have a decision not only to settle the current claim but also one that can be appealed on a point of law to the District Court to produce a binding decision for future claims in the Local Court.