Arthur Robinson (Grafton) Pty Ltd v Carter (1968) 122 CLR 649
Tort; remedies; quantification of damages; reasonable costs of nursing and medical care.
Facts: Carter was a passenger in a car. He was injured when the car ran off the road and overturned. As a result of the motor accident Carter was rendered almost a quadriplegic. He had paralysis below the chest level and paralysis of both arms. He was awarded damages. An appeal was brought on the grounds that the damages awarded were excessive.
Issue: Was the award of damages excessive?
Decision: Barwick CJ said at 661:
"The question here is not what are the ideal requirements but what are the reasonable requirements of the respondent..."
See also Sharman v Evans (1977) 138 CLR 563, where Gibbs and Stephen JJ quoted Barwick CJ and added (at 573):
"The touchstone of reasonableness in the case of the cost of providing nursing and medical care for the plaintiff in the future is, no doubt, cost matched against health benefits to the plaintiff. If cost is very great and benefits to health slight or speculative the cost-involving treatment will clearly be unreasonable, the more so if there is available an alternative and relatively inexpensive mode of treatment, affording equal or only slightly lesser benefits."