Kettle v Barry

• Jurisdiction: British Virgin Islands
• Court: High Court (British Virgin Islands)
• Judge: Joseph, J
• Judgment Date: 24 May 1983
• Neutral Citation: VG 1983 HC 1
• Docket Number: No. 59 of 1981
• Date: 24 May 1983

High Court of Justice

Joseph, J

No. 59 of 1981

Kettle

and

Barry

Tort - Damages

Facts: Infant plaintiff knocked from his bicycle when bicycle collided with defendant's motor car. Speed limit in area was 10 miles per hour. The defendant was driving faster. The plaintiff suffered a fracture on his left ankle and wore a cast for two months. Plaintiff suffered concussion of the brain resulting in frequent headaches. Plaintiff's school grades dropped from A's to B's to C's and his ability to concentrate was affected.

Held: Judgment for plaintiff for $16,683.16 including $2,183.16 special damages.

Joseph, J

1 The plaintiff's claim is for damages for personal injury sustained when the defendant allegedly so negligently drove his motor car that it collided with the infant plaintiff's bicycle, thereby knocking the plaintiff from the bicycle he was riding to the ground, resulting in a fracture of the left ankle and concussion of the brain.

2 The defendant in his defence denied that he was negligent. Alternatively, the defendant alleged that the collision was caused wholly or partly by the negligence of the plaintiff.

3 The plaintiff's case is that on the 21st March, 1981, about 1.00 p.m., he was riding a bicycle at Sea Cows Bay on the Sir Francis Drake Road which is the main road running from Road Town to the West End: that he was about to cross the road when he saw three vehicles on the road travelling from east to west. He dismounted and pulled the bicycle to the side until the vehicles had passed. He then looked left and right, saw no vehicles approaching, gave a signal indicating that he was about to cross and started to cross the road. When he was on the right side of the road, that is, on the further side of the road, he heard his cousin Neil Thomas shout. The plaintiff got a glimpse of a car travelling in the middle of the road from east to west. The next thing he remembered was that he was lying on the ground on the right side of the road.

4 Neil Thomas was sitting on a well near to a steep corner on that portion of the main road. Near to the well is the Ebenezer Thomas private school and in that vicinity a minor road leads from the main road to the Ebenezer Thomas school, and dwelling houses. He saw a car driven by the defendant come around the corner very fast, slide across the road and collide with the plaintiff who was thrown on to the top of the car, striking the windscreen before rolling to the ground.

5 The plaintiff was seen by a number of doctors. On the recommendation of Doctor Thomas, a medical practitioner in Tortola, a doctor in St. Thomas x-rayed his skull, his leg and his ankle. The plaintiff was seen by a neurosurgeon based in Puerto Rico and an orthopedic specialist in Puerto Rico, the latter on the recommendation of Doctor Thomas.

6 Doctor Thomas testified that the plaintiff had a small fracture on the inner aspect of the left ankle. The doctor saw the plaintiff on the 28 ^th April, 1981 after the visit to the orthopedic specialist, and the plaintiff's left leg, from below the knee to the toes was in a plaster cast. The plaster cast was removed on the 5th June 1981, and a supportive bandage applied, the latter being removed on the 22nd June, 1981. The doctor considered that the injury was not particularly...