Read the full judgment text of CACV 000012/1988 on BabelCite. This Court of Appeal judgment was delivered on 22 July 1988 before Cons, Ag. C. J., Kempster, J. A., Clough, J.A., Hunter, J. A. & Power, J. A..
Damages – personal injury – guidelines for general damages for pain, suffering and loss of amenities – update of Lee Ting Lam sliding scale – below-knee amputation of welder/labourer – whether guidelines should be abandoned, updated, or supplemented by direct reference to English awards – assessment of award within the categories – special features displacing case between categories – loss of future earning capacity (Smith v. Manchester damages) – risk of disadvantage in labour market – whether conventional multiplier calculation subsumes the risk – evidence of Labour Officer on placement prospects. The plaintiff, a welder and general labourer, suffered severe crushing of his left foot when an oil drum fell from a crane in the defendant's Tuen Mun scrap metal yard on 27 January 1984, leading to below-knee amputation on 4 July 1984 and permanent disability, including inability to resume vigorous recreational pursuits. Held, allowing the appeal in part: (1) The Lee Ting Lam four-category framework (serious, substantial, gross disability, disaster) should be retained as a foundation garment rather than a straitjacket, with the starting point being comparison with actual decided cases rather than mechanical application of the categories. (2) The ranges require upward adjustment for general social and economic changes since 1980, with the court taking judicial notice of wage increases above the rate of inflation; the new ranges are set at $135,000–$180,000, $180,000–$225,000, $225,000–$340,000, and $340,000 upwards. Direct application of English awards was not adopted as Hong Kong had not been shown to have social and economic conditions similar to England. (3) Applying the updated ranges and a further adjustment for inflation to December 1987, damages for pain, suffering and loss of amenities were increased to $175,000. (4) A separate award for loss of future earning capacity was warranted and fixed at $15,000, because the risk of the disabled plaintiff being out of work for longer periods than an able-bodied man was not captured in the conventional multiplier calculation of future loss of earnings; each case must be considered on its own merits rather than by resort to conventional figures. The plaintiff was represented by Robert Tang, Q.C. with Mrs. B. Kaplan (assigned under D.L.A.); the defendant by R. Mills-Owens, Q.C. with Herman Poon of M/s P. T. Yeung & Tang.
Legal issues: Update of Lee Ting Lam guidelines for general damages in personal injury cases · Adequacy of damages for pain, suffering and loss of amenities · Award for loss of future earning capacity (Smith v. Manchester damages)
Outcome: Appeal allowed; the award for pain, suffering and loss of amenities increased from $136,000 to $175,000, and an additional $15,000 awarded for loss of future earning capacity.