South Australian Current Acts

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CIVIL LIABILITY ACT 1936 - SECT 50

50—How case is dealt with where damages are liable to reduction on account of contributory negligence

        (1)         If damages are liable to reduction on account of actual or presumed contributory negligence, the court is to proceed in accordance with this section.

        (2)         First, the court is to assess the damages to which the injured person would be entitled if there were no reduction for contributory negligence.

        (3)         Secondly, the court is to—

            (a)         determine the extent of the injured person's contributory negligence, leaving out of the account factors for which a fixed statutory reduction is prescribed by this Part but taking into account the injured person's intoxication (if relevant) and factors that would, apart from this Part, amount to contributory negligence; and

            (b)         determine a percentage reduction to be made on account of these forms of contributory negligence (which cannot be less in a case involving intoxication than the relevant minimum prescribed by this Part); and

            (c)         then reduce the amount assessed under subsection (2) by the percentage determined under this subsection.

        (4)         Thirdly, the court is to apply any applicable fixed statutory reduction to the amount assessed under subsection (2) and reduced, if required, under subsection (3), and, if 2 or more fixed statutory reductions are required, the court is to make them in series.

Example—

Suppose that an amount of $100 000 is subject to 2 fixed statutory reductions of 25 per cent. In this case, the amount is first reduced to $75 000 and then reduced to $56 250.

        (5)         There is no necessary correlation between a finding of contributory negligence in relation to a cause of action under this Part and an apportionment of liability in relation to a different cause of action arising from the same facts.

Example—

Suppose that A and B are both drivers of motor vehicles that come into collision as a result of the negligence of both with resultant personal injuries to each other and also to C, a passenger in B's vehicle. Suppose that B's damages are reduced by 60 per cent under this Part as a result of actual or presumptive contributory negligence causally related to the occurrence of the accident. This is not to imply that, in A's action against B, no reduction beyond 40 per cent can be made on a similar basis. In C's action against A and B, responsibility will be apportioned between A and B without regard to the provisions of this Part.



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