Vulin v Cox [2005] ACTCA 22

Court of Appeal (ACT)|2005-05-31|Before: Ryan JJ, Madgwick JJ, Mason CJ, Gaudron JJ

1. This is an appeal by the successful plaintiff in a motor vehicle personal injuries claim restricted solely to the question of general damages. The trial judge had awarded the plaintiff the sum of $119,875.21, of which $12,000 was attributable to general damages.

2. The plaintiff was a young woman who, the trial judge found, had sustained soft tissue injuries and a degree of nerve root irritation. His Honour found that this had a significant effect on her continuing employment as a hairdresser, and awarded a buffer of $75,000 for future economic loss, based on an ongoing loss of about a day and a half's pay per week.

3. In written submissions in the appeal, counsel for the respondent said:

In those circumstances, the Respondent cannot responsibly suggest that an award of general damages in the sum of $12,000.00 was an adequate award, nor can it responsibly suggest that it was an amount "within the range".

... we see no significant danger in permitting trial judges to provide to the jury an indication of the ordinary level of the general damages component of personal injury awards for comparative purposes, nor in counsel being permitted to make a similar reference.

Their Honours went on again to stress that in personal injury cases there was of course no tariff that could be derived by comparison with other cases, and that every case had to be decided on its own particular facts.

8. Similar views have been subsequently expressed, and perhaps with greater clarity, by a Full Court of this Court on an appeal from the Master in 1996 in the matter of Hebditch v Slaven Motors Pty Ltd (unreported, Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory, 12 July 1996, Gallop, Higgins and Ryan JJ) where their Honours said at 15:

It goes without saying that in assessing damages the Court must draw upon its own experience, rely upon its own analysis of the evidence in the particular case and reach an opinion about the correct assessment of compensation for the injury sustained, the pain and suffering, loss of amenities and all the other matters that are required to be taken into account in assessing general damages.

The Court must recognize also that no two cases are wholly alike and that apparent similarities are often superficial. Because the elements which constitute the basis for an assessment of damages for personal injuries vary so infinitely, there can be no fixed or unalterable standard for assessing the amounts for those particular elements. Nevertheless, it is not out of place for the Court, in its endeavour to assess damages within a recognized range to search for any trend of awards in reasonably comparable cases and use a current path as a guide to making its assessment. By looking at comparable cases the court does not leave itself little room for flexibility. The proper award cannot be arrived at by adopting fixed limits. But it is proper for a judge to take notice of recent assessments made by other judges of this Court in cases which bear a reasonably close resemblance to the case under consideration.

9. None of this should suggest, of course, the existence of a tariff. Each personal injury claim must be decided on its own facts. Further, the purchasing power of money is apt to change and increased understanding may lead to a different kind of approach to quantification of such intangibles as different kinds of pain and suffering. Nevertheless, in determining the quantum of damages, trial judges and masters may be assisted by reference to non-appellable ranges of damages derived from decisions of this Court.

10. Where such assistance is requested by the Court, it should generally be provided. There may be particular cases, for example of a plaintiff with a degree of brain damage, where a party's counsel might explain why he or she must decline the Court's invitation. However, counsel should not accept any instruction from an insurer-defendant not to assist the Court or as to what might be an appropriate response. It is counsel's duty honestly and responsibly to assist the Court in a matter where such assistance is sought.

11. We intend no criticism of counsel in this case. Counsel, we were informed, had specific reasons which, without the benefit of the above clarification, they considered warranted their declining the trial judge's invitation. We simply wish to have no repetition of the unfortunate circumstances which occurred here despite his Honour's best endeavours to act in accordance with contemporary general standards of assessment of damages.

I certify that the preceding eleven (11) numbered paragraphs are a true copy of the Reasons for Judgment herein of the Court.

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