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Dingi v Motor Vehicles Insurance (PNG) Trust [1994] PGNC 83; N1211 (18 April 1994)

N1211

PAPUA NEW GUINEA
[In the National Court of Justice]

WS.182 of 1991

SIMIN DINGI

V

MOTOR VEHICLES INSURANCE (PNG) TRUST

Mount Hagen: Woods J
17 February and 18 April 1994

Damages - fatal accidents - Plaintiff/parents - loss of support - loss of expectation of bride-price.

Cases cited:
The following cases are cited in this judgement.
Inabari v Sapat & The State [1991] Unreported N973
Uokare v The State [1988-89] PNGLR 655
Wan v Komun [1990] PNGLR 322

D L Connor for the Plaintiff.
A Kandakasi for the Defendant.

18 April 1994.

WOODS, J: The Plaintiff is the father of one Ten Simin who was a passenger on a motor vehicle which was travelling on the road between Kundiawa and Gumine on the 20th June 1988 when it went out of control and rolled off the road down into the river whereby Ten Simin was injured and drowned.

There is an agreement on liability at 25% to be borne by the Plaintiff and 75% by the defendant.

The deceased was 18 years old at the time of her death and this claim is brought by the father for the loss of bride-price the father and family would have received in due course from the marriage of the deceased and also for the loss of her contribution to the family by undertaking gardening and other such activities expected in the village environment.

The evidence is that she was a healthy young girl and her father expected her to get married in the ordinary course of custom. And upon her marriage by custom he expected that he and the family would have received benefit from what is termed bride-price. I have no difficulty in finding that there must be some loss to parents when children die the difficulty is how to assess that loss. When a son dies then there is no doubt that the parents will have lost some continuing support as they got older and complete support in their declining years. And I so found in the case Uokare v The State [1988-89] PNGLR 655. However with a daughter the normal custom is that when a daughter marries she goes to live with the family or line of her husband and in due course may help support her husband's parents. So when this happens there is the custom of a payment called bride-price which is to compensate the parents for the work and effort the parents have put into bringing up the daughter and now losing her and also to cement the marriage and confirm that any children of the marriage will belong to the line of the husband. See Wan v Komun [1990] PNGLR 322.

In the case Inabari v Sapat & The State 1991 Unreported N073 the Judge in considering the funeral expenses following the death of a young boy found that such should include reasonable customary obligations. So the Court has considered whether obligations that arise by custom following a death can be part of any claim and has agreed with the customary method of calculation or consideration. I therefore agree that a claim which refers to the potential loss of bride-price is valid and must be considered properly by the Court.

However it has been submitted by the defendant that the claim for bride-price is too remote and uncertain. It is submitted that there has been no evidence of marriage proposals, that many girls now do not wed, and the custom of bride-price is decreasing.

However the girl and her parents come from a rural environment in the Simbu Province and I have no reason to doubt whether she will get married, I find that it is highly likely. But then of course even if she did not marry there is the equal chance then that she would stay with her parents and help to support them, so whichever way, her parents have a loss for which they are entitled to claim.

The difficulty is how to assess this claim. I have received evidence of an amount of bride-price being paid for a girl from the same village and after allowing for the subsequent return of some of the wealth there was a net gain of about K6,000. This figure seems to accord with the amounts that the father said he would have expected.

Of course the court cannot be seen to support excessive claims for bride-price but I find nothing excessive in an amount of around K6,000. But perhaps there should be some reduction for contingencies. So I will start with a figure of K6,000 and reduce it by K1,000 for contingencies. Then deduct 25% for contributory negligence and the figure comes to K3,750. I will allow interest at 8% on that from the date of the writ till to-day which assesses at K877.80.

I order Judgement for K4,627.80.

Lawyer for the Plaintiff: D. L. O'Connor
Lawyer for the Defendant: Young & Williams