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A BASIC INTRODUCTION TO ASSESSING DAMAGES IN A COMPENSATION TO RELATIVES ACT CLAIM - PDF
A BASIC INTRODUCTION TO ASSESSING DAMAGES IN A COMPENSATION TO RELATIVES ACT CLAIM
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1 A BASIC INTRODUCTION TO ASSESSING DAMAGES IN A COMPENSATION TO RELATIVES ACT CLAIM The Act The Task Matthew v Flood (1939) SASR 389 Farley v Commissioner for Railways (1964-5) NSWR 154 (FC) Public Trustee vzoanetti (1945) 70 CLR 266 Watson v Dennis (1968) 88 WN (PI1) (NSW) 491 Nguyen v Nguyen (1990) 169 CLR 245 Statutory Caps and Other Relevant Provisions Section 5T of the Civil Liability Act (applied to motor accidents - see s3b(2)) Section 12 of the Civil Liability Act Section 125 of MACA Section 15C of the Civil Liability Act (applies to motor accidents - see s3b(2)) Sections 142 (3) of MACA Sections 141B of MACA Section 15B of the Civil Liability Act (applies to motor accidents - see s3b(2)) Identifying the Pie - Necessary Evidence Dividing up the Pie - Calculating the Level of Dependency and Statistical Assistance Example of Mathematical Calculation Accelerated Benefits, Dependants' Earnings, Remarriage and Discount Rates Public Trustee (WA) v Nickisson (1964) 111 CLR 500 Carroll v Purcell ( ) 107 CLR 73 De Dales v Inghlli (2002) 212 CLR 338 Approvals Further Reading RTA vjelfs (1999) NSWCA 179 RTA v Cremona (2001) NSWCA 338 Dwight v Bonchier & Ors (2003) NSWCA 3 Kaplantzi & Anor v Pascoe (2003) NSWCA 386 Black v Walden (2008) NSWCA 108 Grosso v Deaton [2012] NSWCA 101 Taylor v The Owners-Strata Plan No [2012] NSWSC 842 Luntz, Assessment of Damages for Personal Injury & Death (4 th Edition, 2002) Luntz, Damages for Personal Injury and Death: General Principles (2006)
2 New South Wales Compensation to Relatives Act 1897 No 31 An Act to consolidate enactments relating to compensation to relatives of persons killed by accidents. Current version for to date (generated on at 13:15) 01
3 Section 1 Compensation to Relatives Act 1897 No 31 1 Name of Act 2 Repeal This Act may be cited as the Compensation to Relatives Act The enactments mentioned in the Schedule to this Act to the extent therein expressed are hereby repealed. 3 An action to be maintainable against any person causing death through neglect despite the death of the person injured (1) Whensoever the death of a person is caused by a wrongful act, neglect, or default, and the act, neglect, or default is such as would (if death had not ensued) have entitled the party injured to maintain an action and recover damages in respect thereof, then and in every such case the person who would have been liable if death had not ensued shall be liable to an action for damages, notwithstanding the death of the person injured, and although the death has been caused under such circumstances as amount in law to a serious indictable offence. (2) In any such action any reasonable expenses of the funeral or the cremation of the deceased person and the reasonable cost of erecting a headstone or tombstone over the grave of the deceased person may be recovered. (3) In assessing damages in any such action there shall not be taken into account: (a) any sum paid or payable on the death of the deceased under any contract of insurance, or (b) any sum paid or payable out of any superannuation, provident, or like fund, or by way of benefit from a friendly society, benefit society, or trade union, or (c) any sum paid or payable by way of pension under: (i) the Widows' Pension Act , (ii) the Coal and Oil Shale Mine Workers (Pensions) Act , (iii) the Australian Soldiers' Repatriation Act of the Parliament of the Commonwealth, (iv) the Widows' Pensions Act of the Parliament of the Commonwealth, (v) the Invalid and Old-age Pensions Act of the Parliament of the Commonwealth, or under any Act (Commonwealth or State) amending or replacing any such Act. Page 2 Current version for to date (generated on at 13:15) 02
4 Compensation to Relatives Act 1897 No 31 Section 4 4 By whom and for whom action may be brought (1) Every such action shall be for the benefit of the spouse, brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister, parent, and child of the person whose death has been so caused, and shall be brought by and in the name of the executor or administrator of the person deceased, and in every such action the jury may give such damages as they may think proportioned to the injury resulting from such death to the parties respectively for whom and for whose benefit such action is brought, and the amount so recovered, after deducting the costs not recovered from the defendant, shall be divided amongst the before-mentioned parties in such shares as the jury by their verdict find and direct. (2) If there is more than one spouse of the person whose death has been so caused, the action is (without limiting the application of subsection (1) to other persons) for the benefit of each of the spouses, who are to be separate parties to the action. 5 Only one action shall lie Not more than one action shall lie for and in respect of the same subject matter of complaint. 6 Plaintiff to deliver a full particular of the person for whom such damages shall be claimed In every such action the plaintiff on the record shall be required, together with the declaration, to deliver to the defendant or the defendant's attorney a full particular of the persons for whom and on whose behalf such action is brought, and of the nature of the claim in respect of which damages are sought to be recovered. 6A 6B Payment into court (1) In every such action the defendant may pay money into court as a compensation in one sum to all persons entitled under this Act for the wrongful act neglect or default without specifying the shares into which the sum is to be divided by the jury. (2) If the sum paid in is not accepted, and if an issue is taken by the plaintiff as to its sufficiency, and the jury think the same sufficient, the defendant shall be entitled to the verdict upon that issue. (3) No portion of the sum paid in shall be paid out of court except under the order of a judge. Alternative action (1) Where there is no executor or administrator of the person deceased, or where the person's executor or administrator does not bring an action Page 3 Current version for to date (generated on at 13:15) 03
5 Section 6C Compensation to Relatives Act 1897 No 31 under this Act within six months after the death of the person deceased, the person or any one or more of the persons for whose benefit the action might be brought by such an executor or administrator may bring the action. (2) Any action so brought shall be for the benefit of the same person or persons and shall be subject to the same provisions and procedure, as nearly as may be, as if it were brought by such an executor or administrator. 6C 6D 6E Survival of action (1) Every action and cause of action under this Act shall survive notwithstanding the death of the wrongdoer. (2) (Repealed) (3) Any damages recovered against the executor or administrator shall be payable in like order of administration as the debts of the wrongdoer. Action before judge without jury Where an action under this Act is tried before a judge without a jury, the provisions of this Act with respect to a jury and to the verdict of a jury shall be construed as applying to a judge and to the judgment of a court, as the case may be. Application of Act (1) This Act applies whether the subject-matter of the complaint arises within or outside New South Wales, and whether the wrongdoer, the person whose death has been caused, or any other person concerned was or is a British subject or not. (2) This Act applies to actions commenced either before or after the commencement of the Compensation to Relatives (Amendment) Act (3) This Act shall bind the Crown. 7 Construction of Act (1) The following words are intended to have the meanings hereby assigned to them respectively, so far as such meanings are not excluded by the context or by the nature of the subject matter, that is to say, the word parent shall include father and mother, and grandfather and grandmother, and stepfather and stepmother, and any person standing in loco parentis to another; and the word child shall include son and daughter, and grandson and granddaughter, and stepson and stepdaughter, and any person to whom another stands in loco parentis; Page 4 Current version for to date (generated on at 13:15) 04
6 Compensation to Relatives Act 1897 No 31 Section 8 (1A), (IB) and the word declaration shall include any statement of the cause of action appropriate to the court in which the action is brought. (Repealed) (2) In this Act administrator means administrator within the meaning of the Probate and Administration Act 1898 and includes the public trustee acting as collector of an estate under an order to collect. (3) In this Act executor means the executor to whom probate has been granted and includes an executor by right of representation. (4) In this Act, spouse means: (a) a husband or wife, or (b) a de facto partner. Note. "De facto partner" is defined in section 21C of the Interpretation Act Rights of action in respect of past events The amendments made to this Act by the Property (Relationships) Legislation Amendment Act 1999 do not operate to confer on any person a right of action in relation to any act, neglect or default that took place before those amendments took effect. Page 5 Current version for to date (generated on at 13:15) 05
7 The Task Matthew v Flood (1939) SASR 389 at per Cleland J " it has been established that the damages are limited to the pecuniary loss which arises in consequence of the death... The principle cause of pecuniary loss is naturally the loss of the deceased's net earnings, present and future, less any deductible pecuniary advantage which may arise from the death. The estimate of this loss depends on the reasonable inferences which are to be drawn from the established facts, and in drawing those inferences regard must be had to what the future earnings of the deceased would have been had he not been killed, and that those earnings may be either more or less than those which he was earning at the time of his death The question for what period he might be reasonably expected to earn them must also be considered. All probable contingencies arising from ill-health, unemployment, and all the other probable human contingencies and the practical interruptions of his earning power are to be also taken into account Although this assessment cannot be arrived at by any arithmetical or actuarial calculations, it by no means follows that an assessment cannot be made The same difficulty arises in every case in assessing damages for personal injuries which do not result in death. When once the actual definite facts are established it becomes proper to draw from them all reasonable and proper inferences, and upon those inferences to arrive at a reasonable assessment of the damages by the use of the 'broad axe and a sound imagination'. It has been the practice to sometimes set out in detail, and calculate and assess, the various items which go to make up the assessment of the total damage, and for this purpose to 'descend to wearisome and possibly erroneous depths of analysis' This seems to me to be an idle and futile attempt to give an appearance of certainty to an assessment which, after all, in its final results, depends upon a number of inherent incalculable uncertainties" Farley v Commissioner for Railways [1964-5] NSWR1545 (FC) at 1547 "All but the simplest claims under [Lord Campbell's] Act present uncertain and imponderable elements, so that an accurate arithmetical approach is quite impossible. " 06
8 The Task Public Trustee v Zoanetti (1945) 70 CLR 266 at 26-7 per Dixon J "..in ascertaining the pecuniary loss resulting from [a person's] death there must be taken into consideration, on the one side, the reasonable expectations of benefit upon which the claimant would have been entitled to rely, had his life not been brought to an end, and, on the other side, the pecuniary benefits arising on his death, to which the claimant had a reasonable expectation, whether as of right or otherwise" Watson v Dennis (1968) 88WN (PT1)(NSW) 491 at 495 per Walsh JA "All that means is this that you seek to reach a value for benefits which the deceased would probably have applied for the maintenance of his wife and family if he had not been killed But, in the absence of special provision, you also have to set off against that any payments or benefits which, because of the death, are received by the wife or family" Nguyen v Nguyen^ (1990) 169 CLR 245 at 263 -per Dawson, Toohey and McHugh J J "Commonly the claim is based upon the loss of the financial contribution made by the deceased to the household and is referred to as a claim for the loss of a breadwinner. But the deceased may have made a contribution in services rather than money in which case damages are recoverable for their loss, whether or not they are, or are to be, replaced provided that a pecuniary value can be placed upon them" 07
9 Page 1 of 1 M3 A A Whole title Regulations Historical versions Historical notes Search title PDF Civil Liability Act 2002 No 22 Current version for 6 July 2012 to date (accessed 13 December 2012 at 12:38) Part 1A N Division 8 Section 5T << page >> 5T Contributory negligence claims under the Compensation to Relatives Act 1897 (1) In a claim for damages brought under the Compensation to Relatives Act 1897, the court is entitled to have regard to the contributory negligence of the deceased person. (2) Section 13 of the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1965 does not apply so as to prevent the reduction of damages by the contributory negligence of a deceased person in respect of a claim for damages brought under the Compensation to Relatives Act Top of page U++«./^7Tini7 1^^rio1n+4^*-» Mn«7 ^ATT rin/a.nrnrimi7/im-pni.^a/on+x00x0na04-«+ In Ai^rQ a^r» ^+_ _ 1^/IO/OHIO 08
10 Page 1 of 1 &4A A Whole title Regulations Historical versions Historical notes Search title PDF Civil Liability Act 2002 No 22 Current version for 6 July 2012 to date (accessed 13 December 2012 at 12:39) Part 2 ^ Division 2 ^ Section 12 << page >> 12 Damages for past or future economic loss maximum for loss of earnings etc (1) This section applies to an award of damages: (a) for past economic loss due to loss of earnings or the deprivation or impairment of earning capacity, or (b) for future economic loss due to the deprivation or impairment of earning capacity, or (c) for the loss of expectation of financial support. (2) In the case of any such award, the court is to disregard the amount (if any) by which the claimant's gross weekly earnings would (but for the injury or death) have exceeded an amount that is 3 times the amount of average weekly earnings at the date of the award. (3) For the purposes of this section, the amount of average weekly earnings at the date of an award is: (a) the amount per week comprising the amount estimated by the Australian Statistician as the average weekly total earnings of all employees in New South Wales for the most recent quarter occurring before the date of the award for which such an amount has been estimated by the Australian Statistician and that is, at that date, available to the court making the award, or (b) if the Australian Statistician fails or ceases to estimate the amount referred to in paragraph (a), the prescribed amount or the amount determined in such manner or by reference to such matters, or both, as may be prescribed. Top of page n++rwa*nxn*7 l^rriolatirm new rrmr Qn/frcirrA7i^\Wir»fnr^^/Qr>t-l-99-r-9nn94-r\t 9-r\\\r 9-Q(*r V1 9/
11 Page 1 of 1 fell A A Whole title Regulations, Historical versions, Historical notes Search title PDF Motor Accidents Compensation Act 1999 No 41 Current version for 1 August 2012 to date (accessed 13 December 2012 at 12:40) Chapter 5 Part 5.2 ^ Section 125 << page >> 125 Damages for past or future economic loss maximum for loss of earnings etc (cfsl51iwca) (1) This section applies to an award of damages: (a) for past or future economic loss due to loss of earnings or the deprivation or impairment of earning capacity, or (b) for the loss of expectation of financial support. (2) In the case of any such award, the court is to disregard the amount (if any) by which the injured or deceased person's net weekly earnings would (but for the injury or death) have exceeded $2,500. Note. See section 146 for indexation of that amount. Top of page 10 U^.//,,.,.,, U^.1^ r t M T ^rttt n, l/^n^h^,/^^^ a/n^j./1u1qoq^u ^ ^+ <: o o^ 10^ 1^/10/0010
12 Page 1 of 1 Mr*i A A Whole title Regulations Historical versions Historical notes Search title PDF Civil Liability Act 2002 No 22 Current version for 6 July 2012 to date (accessed 13 December 2012 at 12:39) Part 2 ^ Division 2 ^ Section 15C << page >> 15C Damages for loss of superannuation entitlements (1) The maximum amount of damages that may be awarded for economic loss due to the loss of employer superannuation contributions is the relevant percentage of damages payable (in accordance with this Part) for the deprivation or impairment of the earning capacity on which the entitlement to those contributions is based. (2) The relevant percentage is the percentage of earnings that is the minimum percentage required by law to be paid as employer superannuation contributions.» Top of page httn://www1ems1ation.nsw.ffov.au/fraeview/inforce/act nt2-div.2-sec.l5c+ 13/12/
13 Page 1 of 1 Whole title Regulations ' Historical versions. Historical notes Search title PDF Motor Accidents Compensation Act 1999 No 41 Current version for 1 August 2012 to date (accessed 13 December 2012 at 12:40) Chapter 5 Part 5.4 ^ Section 142 << page >> 142 Damages for the loss of services (1) No damages for the loss of the services of a person are to be awarded in respect of a motor accident. (2) Subsection (1) does not apply to the award of damages in an action brought under the Compensation to Relatives Act (3) The provisions of section 141B (3)-(7) apply to an award of damages brought under that Act with respect to the loss of the services of the deceased person in so far as the award relates to attendant care services. Top of page..//,,, i : ) +: T.,..w^^.^^/^^^^/no+x/i 1 xi oooi.^ ^ «+ ^ A oo/> IAO n/n/onn 12
14 Page 1 of2 yaa Whole title Regulations! Historical versions Historical notes Search title PDF Motor Accidents Compensation Act 1999 No 41 Current version for 1 August 2012 to date (accessed 13 December 2012 at 12:40) Chapter 5, Part 5.4 ^ Section 141B << page >> 141B Maximum amount of damages for provision of certain attendant care services (cfs72maa) (1) Compensation, included in an award of damages, for the value of attendant care services: (a) which have been or are to be provided by another person to the person in whose favour the award is made, and (b) for which the person in whose favour the award is made has not paid and is not liable to pay, must not exceed the amount determined in accordance with this section. (2) No compensation is to be awarded if the services would have been provided to the person even if the person had not been injured by the motor accident. (3) Further, no compensation is to be awarded unless the services are provided (or to be provided): (a) for at least 6 hours per week, and (b) for a period of at least 6 consecutive months. (4) If the services provided or to be provided are not less than 40 hours per week, the amount of compensation must not exceed: (a) the amount per week comprising the amount estimated by the Australian Statistician as the average weekly total earnings of all employees in New South Wales for: (i) in respect of the whole or any part of a quarter occurring between the date of the injury in relation to which the award is made and the date of the award, being a quarter for which such an amount has been estimated by the Australian Statistician and is, at the date of the award, available to the court making the award that quarter, or (ii) in respect of the whole or any part of any other quarter the most recent quarter occurring before the date of the award for which such an amount has been estimated by the Australian Statistician and is, at that date, available to the court making the award, or (b) if the Australian Statistician fails or ceases to estimate the amount referred to in paragraph (a), the prescribed amount or the amount determined in such manner or by reference to such matters, or both, as may be prescribed. 13 httrv//www Ipaklfltinn nw anv an/fraavipw/inforre/art oh S-nt S 4-sec V12/201 2
15 Page 2 of2 (5) If the services provided or to be provided are less than 40 hours per week, the amount of compensation must not exceed the amount calculated at an hourly rate of one-fortieth of the amount determined in accordance with subsection (4) (a) or (b), as the case requires. (6) Unless evidence is adduced to the contrary, the court is to assume that the value of the services is the maximum amount determined under subsection (4) or (5), as the case requires. (7) Except as provided by this section, nothing in this section affects any other law relating to the value of attendant care services. Top of page Vittrv/Vwww IpaiQlntinn nsw on\r mi/frfla\/ipw/infnrrp/flrt QQQ+rh S-nt S 4-<;pr /1 9/
16 Page 1 of4 ifcdj A Whole title ' Regulations ] Historical versions Historical notes Search title PDF Civil Liability Act 2002 No 22 Current version for 6 July 2012 to date (accessed 13 December 2012 at 12:39) Part 2 ^ Division 2 ^ Section 15B << page >> 15B Damages for loss of capacity to provide domestic services (1) Definitions In this section: assisted care, in relation to a dependant of a claimant, means any of the following kinds of care (whether or not the care is provided gratuitously): (a) any respite care (being care that includes accommodation that is provided by a person other than the claimant to a dependant who is aged or frail, or who suffers from a physical or mental disability, with the primary purpose of giving the dependant or claimant, or both, a break from their usual care arrangements), (b) if the dependant is a minor (but without limiting paragraph (a)) any care that is provided to the dependant by a person other than the claimant where: (i) the person is a parent of the dependant (whether derived through paragraph (a) (i) or (ii) of the definition of dependants in this subsection, adoption or otherwise), and (ii) the care includes the provision of accommodation to the dependant. dependants, in relation to a claimant, means: (a) such of the following persons as are wholly or partly dependent on the claimant at the time that the liability in respect of which the claim is made arises: (i) the husband or wife of the claimant, (ii) a de facto partner of the claimant, Note. "De facto partner" is defined in section 21C of the Interpretation Act (iii) a child, grandchild, sibling, uncle, aunt, niece, nephew, parent or grandparent of the claimant (whether derived through subparagraph (i) or (ii), adoption or otherwise), (iv) any other person who is a member of the claimant's household, and (b) any unborn child of the claimant (whether derived through paragraph (a) (i) or (ii), adoption or otherwise) at the time that the liability in respect of which the claim is made arises and who is born after that time. gratuitous domestic services means services of a domestic nature for which the person providing the service has not been paid or is not liable to be paid. U^./Aim^ir lamclo+mti nciir rrrvi/ on/ft-arra7;^anr/ir»friro^/ci^t-l-094-0nn0-l-r»t 1-A\\T 9-C^ 1 ^K 1 V1 9/
17 Page 2 of4 (2) When damages may be awarded Damages may be awarded to a claimant for any loss of the claimant's capacity to provide gratuitous domestic services to the claimant's dependants, but only if the court is satisfied that: (a) in the case of any dependants of the claimant of the kind referred to in paragraph (a) of the definition of dependants in subsection (1) the claimant provided the services to those dependants before the time that the liability in respect of which the claim is made arose, and (b) the claimant's dependants were not (or will not be) capable of performing the services themselves by reason of their age or physical or mental incapacity, and (c) there is a reasonable expectation that, but for the injury to which the damages relate, the claimant would have provided the services to the claimant's dependants: (i) for at least 6 hours per week, and (ii) for a period of at least 6 consecutive months, and (d) there will be a need for the services to be provided for those hours per week and that consecutive period of time and that need is reasonable in all the circumstances. Note. Section 18 provides that a court cannot order the payment of interest on damages awarded for any loss of capacity of a claimant to provide gratuitous domestic services to the claimant's dependants. (3) If a dependant of the claimant received (or will receive) assisted care during the 6-month period referred to in subsection (2) (c) (ii) and the court is satisfied that the periods of that care were (or will be) short-term and occasional, the court may: (a) in determining whether the claimant would have provided gratuitous domestic services to the dependant during a particular week for at least the 6 hours referred to in subsection (2) (c) (i), disregard the week if assisted care was (or will be) provided during that week, and (b) in determining whether the claimant would have provided gratuitous domestic services to the dependant during the 6-month period referred to in subsection (2) (c) (ii), disregard any periods during which the assisted care was (or will be) provided in that 6-month period, but only if the total number of weeks in which the care was (or will be) provided during the 6-month period does not exceed 4 weeks in total. (4) Determination of amount of damages The amount of damages that may be awarded for any loss of the claimant's capacity to provide gratuitous domestic services must not exceed the amount calculated at the same hourly rate as that provided by section 15 (5) regardless of the number of hours involved. (5) In determining the amount of damages (if any) to be awarded to a claimant for any loss of the claimant's capacity to provide gratuitous domestic services to the claimant's dependants, a court: (a) may only award damages for that loss in accordance with the provisions of this section, and (b) must not include in any damages awarded to the claimant for non-economic loss a component that compensates the claimant for the loss of that capacity. 16 Vi++r%.//x*n*nTr lom'clatmfi nc«? CTKT an/ft-arranvw/i'^frvrrwa^t+oo^nfn+rtf 9_Hi\7 9-CPV- 1 ^h 1 V 1 9/901 9
18 Page 3 of4 (6) Circumstances when damages may not be awarded The claimant (or the legal personal representative of a deceased claimant) may not be awarded damages for any loss of the claimant's capacity to provide gratuitous domestic services to any dependant of the claimant if the dependant has previously recovered damages in respect of that loss of capacity. (7) A person (including a dependant of a claimant) may not be awarded damages for a loss sustained by the person by reason of the claimant's loss of capacity to provide gratuitous domestic services if the claimant (or the legal personal representative of a deceased claimant) has previously recovered damages in respect of that loss of capacity. (8) If a claimant is a participant in the Scheme under the Motor Accidents (Lifetime Care and Support) Act damages may not be awarded to the claimant under this section in respect of any loss of the claimant's capacity to provide gratuitous domestic services to the claimant's dependants while the claimant is a participant in the Scheme if (and to the extent that): (a) the loss resulted from the motor accident injury (within the meaning of that Act) in respect of which the claimant is a participant in that Scheme, and (b) the treatment and care needs (within the meaning of that Act) of the claimant that are provided for or are to be provided under the Scheme include the provision of such domestic services to the claimant's dependants. (9) Damages may not be awarded to a claimant under this section in respect of any loss of the claimant's capacity to provide gratuitous domestic services to the claimant's dependants if (and to the extent that): (a) the loss resulted from an injury caused by a motor accident (within the meaning of the Motor Accidents Compensation Act 1999), and (b) an insurer has made, or is liable to make, payments to or on behalf of the claimant for such services under section 83 (Duty of insurer to make hospital, medical and other payments) of that Act. (10) Damages may not be awarded if they can be recovered as damages for attendant care services Damages may not be awarded to a claimant under this section in respect of any loss of the claimant's capacity to provide gratuitous domestic services to the claimant's dependants if (and to the extent that): (a) the claimant could recover damages for gratuitous attendant care services (within the meaning of section 15) in respect of the same injury that caused the loss, and (b) the provision of such attendant care services to the claimant also resulted (or would also result) in the claimant's dependants being provided with the domestic services that the claimant has lost the capacity to provide. (11) Determining value of gratuitous domestic services In determining the value of any gratuitous domestic services that a claimant has lost the capacity to provide, the court must take into account: (a) the extent of the claimant's capacity to provide the services before the claimant sustained the injury that is the subject of the claim, and (b) the extent to which provision of the services would, but for the injury sustained by the claimant, have also benefited persons in respect of whom damages could not be awarded under subsection (2), and I-J-L_.// i-_* i x;» /.c,:~_.,/:_.c /.+ i ^> i ^IAAI I + 1 J:, T -> K U 11/n/onn 17
19 Page 4 of4 (c) the vicissitudes or contingencies of life for which allowance is ordinarily made in the assessment of damages. Top of page Vittrv/'IWTWTWT I^CTiclntirvn new anv mi/fraavipw/infnrpp/flrt nt 9-fliv 9-SPP 1 Sb 1 'Vl 2/
20 ^UmpSlUMOdlJCcU IL C O N S U L T I N G A C! V A i I S Dependency percentages for two-parent and one-parent families Hugh Sarjeant and Paul Thomson (The authors are directors ofcumpston Sarjeant Pty Ltd, consulting actuaries, Melbourne) Summary This publication uses Household Expenditure Survey data to suggest dependency percentages for survivors in different types of two-parent family, where one of the parents dies, and for one-parent families, where the parent dies These percentages may provide a starting point for assessment of damages for economic loss by survivors of a deceased earner The dependency estimates for two-parent families are very similar to those in an earlier publication, based on the Household Expenditure Survey Table 1 : Dependencies when all survivors are claimants Our estimated dependency percentages for the surviving parent and children, and for the surviving family as a whole, are: income of spouse as % of income of deceased Number children Parent Child Total family 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% % 43 8% 34 4% 28 7% 24 9% 22 1% 28 4% 21 0% 16 8% 14 1% 12 2% 66 0% 72 2% 76 4% 791% 81 3% 83 1% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% % 24 3% 21 0% 18 6% 16 7% 15 2% 20 2% 15 8% 13 3% 11 6% 10 2% 321% 44 5% 52 6% 58 5% 631% 66 2% Cumoston Sarjeant Ptv Ltd I Level Queen St I 7 (03^ i actuary cumsar com au 19