Lenora Sookwa Plaintiff v (1) Eleanor Casimir (2) Hugh Sealy Defendants [ECSC]
| Jurisdiction | St Lucia |
| Judge | d'Auvergne J. |
| Judgment Date | 26 May 1998 |
| Judgment citation (vLex) | [1998] ECSC J0526-2 |
| Court | High Court (Saint Lucia) |
| Date | 26 May 1998 |
| Docket Number | SUIT NO: 364 of 1992 |
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
(Civil)
A.D. 1998
SUIT NO: 364 of 1992
Mr. E. Calderon for the Plaintiff
Mr. A. Richelieu for the Defendants
The Plaintiff filed a claim against the two Defendants for general damages, special damages in the sum of Eight Thousand Two Hundred and Sixty-Eight Dollars and Sixty-Five Cents ($8,268.65), interest and costs. The Plaintiff alleged that on the 27th day of July, 1990 at about 8:40 a.m. the second Defendant drove motor bus HA3475 along the Gros-lslet Highway in particular near the Sunny Acres gap with such speed that he collided with her and caused her to suffer much injury, pain and suffering.
At the trial the Plaintiff gave evidence on her own behalf along with three other witnesses whereas the two Defendants alone gave evidence for the defence.
Lenora Sookwa told the court that on the day in question she travelled along with her brother as passengers on a public transport; that at the Sunny Acres gap the driver stopped the vehicle, she paid the driver and alighted from the vehicle.
The Plaintiff told the court that she walked along the stationary vehicle that she had alighted from "looked left and right, left and right again; there was no vehicle approaching so I hurried to cross the road to the other side, after that I know nothing. The next time I knew where I was on the Saturday … I saw students at the foot of my bed at the Victoria Hospital."
She told the court that she suffered much pain especially from the right side of her pelvic girdle and the right thigh bone; that she "had a problem with hearing, especially with the right ear" and that she had lost her "sense of smell even today."
She told the court that during her eighteen (18) day stay at the Victoria Hospital she was attended to by Dr. Richardson St. Rose, Dr. Andrew Richardson and Dr. Saltibus; that after her discharge from the hospital she was unable to walk and could only eat certain foods; that during this period which lasted for about three (3) months she was cared for by her mother.
She said that she still suffered from giddiness and pelvic pain, that she still encountered problems with her hearing and had to apply pressure against the right ear in order to hear. That her right leg was now shorter and that she "cannot stand on both feet at a time."
She said that on the date of the accident she was in her nineteenth (19 th) year and an avid sports person who played cricket and volley ball for her school team.
Under cross-examination she was questioned about the trial of the traffic offence at the Magistrate's Court arising out of this incident, she admitted to giving evidence but denied ever giving evidence of running across the road and neither looking right nor left. She said that when she looked right she could see a distance of fifty feet (50ft.) and that she "had passed half the road when … could not recall anything." She further said that after she was discharged from hospital she made visits to Dr. St. Rose and paid him.
Dr. Richardson St. Rose an Orthopaedic Surgeon told the court that on the 27th day of July, 1990 he examined the Plaintiff and found the following:-"
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(1) Multiple abrasions over both knees and legs.
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(2) Six (6) inch laceration over the right elbow region.
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(3) Fracture of the right temporal and occipital bones expanding to the base of the skull.
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(4) Fractures of the right ischium and pubis ramus.
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(5) Slight displacement of pelvis.
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(6) Cerebral concussion.
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(7) Severe headaches, giddiness and pelvic pains.
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(8) Permanent loss of her sense of smell.
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(9) Partial loss of hearing in right ear. Temporary disability of forty percent (40%). Permanent disability of eight percent (8%).
He further said that after his last examination of the Plaintiff he concluded that "there will be a permanent disability of about thirty percent (30%)."
Under cross-examination this witness told the court that any damage sustained by the nerves in the base of the skull remains permanent and can never be rejuvenated.
David Sookwa, a Bank Clerk at the National Commercial Bank of St. Lucia said that on the day in question he travelled with his sister, the Plaintiff on board a public transport from Forestierre to Sunny Acres gap; that she alighted from the vehicle paid the driver and then he saw her starting to cross the road while he as waiting for his change from the driver. He said "I moved to my left and when I looked I actually saw the van (my sister was more than half way crossing) which knocked my sister. The van's number was HA3475. After knocking her I heard the crashing of the brakes … He did not stop he kept on going, he kept on meandering so as not to go over her. Finally I saw the vehicle on a diagonal position rolling my sister on the pitch. After that the van stopped and I ran to my sister."
He gave a graphic description of the way in which he saw her after the accident, in particular that her clothes were in disarray, blood flowing profusely from her nose, right ear and from a cut on one of her arms; that at the scene, a volunteer went with him and his sister into a hired vehicle to the Victoria Hospital, that his sister appeared to him to be unconscious since she never spoke.
He concluded his evidence in chief by stating that his sister complained frequently of headaches and pain in the hips and was unable to take part in the games (such as cricket and volley ball) that she previously played with him. He emphatically stated that after the accident his sister laid on the "left to right side going up to Gros-lslet on the pitch near the grass verge."
Under cross-examination he said that "I did not see if my sister first dash across the road; the first time I saw that vehicle was when it came into contact with my sister.
Romiel Sookwa, the father of the Plaintiff said that upon information received he went to Victoria Hospital on the 27th day of July, 1990 and there he saw the Plaintiff "my daughter lying on a bed bleeding from both nose and head."
He said that she stayed at the said hospital for eighteen (18) days and he visited her twice a day during that period and was unable to work. He estimated that he earned Sixty EC Dollars ($60.00) a day as a self-employed farmer. He tendered receipts from Police report and confirmed that he paid Dr. Richardson St. Rose for Plaintiff's visit to him.
The first Defendant told the court that she was a housewife; that her daughter Diedre Casimir purchased a vehicle Registration No. HA3475 and that the second Defendant drove the said vehicle as a passenger bus for and on behalf of her said daughter.
Under cross-examination this witness however admitted that she was the person who financed the loan for the purchase of the vehicle since her
daughter was a Bank Clerk and therefore the vehicle was registered and insured in her name.
Hugh Sealy the Second Defendant told the court that he was the driver of vehicle HA3575 which collided with the Plaintiff. He said that he drove the said vehicle as a passenger vehicle and was paid for his services by Diedre Casimir the daughter of the First Defendant.
He said that the morning in question about 8:40 a.m. he was transporting people from Castries to Gros-lslet as usual, that on approaching the Sunny Acres gap he "noticed a white van parked on my left, that van was off the road, when I got about three (3) yards before the van that was parked I blew the horn, when I got exactly parallel to the van I heard a sound on the left front of my vehicle when I looked I noticed that it was a young lady crossing in front of the same parked vehicle and hit me directly into the left front of my vehicle. Then I noticed that it was the young lady trying to...
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