SORABJI HORMUSJI BATLIVALA Vs. JAMSHEDJI MERWANJI WADIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The suit which gives rise to this appeal was filed to obtain damages for personal injuries sustained while the plaintiff, as a bare licensee, was being driven gratuitously by his friend, the defendant, in the defendant s motor car.

(2.) The learned trial Judge, Macleod J., has found that the defendant is liable on the ground of negligence, and has awarded to the plaintiff the sum of Rs. 38,000 as damages. The defendant now appeals from that decree.

(3.) It will be convenient to use the word accident in reference to the occurrence, but the word must be understood in its popular sense, and not as indicating any suggestion as to whether the occurrence was, or was not, avoidable. The . accident, then, occurred while the defendant was driving a 1 party of relatives and friends in his white steam car from Deolali to Igatpuri. On the way there is a level crossing over t the G. I. P. Railway and this crossing admittedly is such as needs some degree of care to pass in safety. Coming from Deolali it is approached on a fairly straight road, but the crossing itself turns to the left somewhat abruptly from the road, and, when once the crossing is passed, the road swings round sharply to the right: see the plan, Ex. B. Moreover, as this plan and the photographs on the record show, this sharp turn of the road to the right is invisible to an approaching driver until he is practically over the .level crossing; and his view to his front is further impeded by a railway gateman s lodge situated on the far side of the crossing to the approaching driver s right hand. Admittedly the defendant s car, for one reason or another, failed to take the sharp right-handed turn after the crossing : instead of doing so, it preserved its direction in practically a straight line, with the result that just beyond the crossing it left the road and ran, or jumped, down the bank to the left into the paddy field beyond. Except the defendant himself, who was at the wheel and thus had some support, all the occupants of the car were thrown out with much violence, and were more or less seriously injured; one little girl was unfortunately killed outright, and the plaintiff received such grave injuries to his leg that he will, as the medical evidence proves, remain a cripple for the rest of his life.