Drunk as a skunk, in the middle of the road

Remember those days of long ago when people were prepared to face the consequences of their own actions and mistakes, instead of blaming others? The extraordinary burgeoning of personal injury litigation that has followed the eclipse of that spirit has come at great cost to the community, including through the increased insurance premiums imposed on professionals and businesses. Ultimately, it is only the legal fraternity, and those lucky victims who have managed to displace responsibility, who have been the winners. Witness, for example, the facts of a civil case decided on appeal in the High Court on Wednesday.

In the middle of a rainy night in Albany, WA, in October 2000, tow-truck driver Wayne Edward Manley ran over fisherman Iain Stewart Alexander as he lay in the middle of the road, drunk. Adding to Mr Alexander's perils as he lay on the asphalt, supine after the consumption of 12 beers over eight hours, was the fact that his friend Cameron Turner was standing unsteadily at the side of the road and looking as if he might stumble on to it: this distraction occupied Mr Manley's attention during the critical few seconds in which he might have noticed Mr Alexander and applied the brakes. Mr Alexander, who was seriously injured, unsuccessfully sued Mr Manley for damages in the District Court of Western Australia. But the Full Court overturned the decision, ordering Mr Manley to pay the 30 per cent of Mr Alexander's damages that could be sheeted home to his negligence.

This has now been upheld in the High Court. In response, most people would be inclined to say, first, that a motorist could be forgiven for failing to avoid a drunk who was lying stationary in the middle of the road, wearing dark clothes on a dark night. Of course, High Court judges are provided with a commonwealth car and driver: perhaps they have forgotten what it is like to drive at night. Second, and more important, most people would likely feel that the activity of lying drunk on the road at night is an inherently risky and stupid one, and that those who pursue it should be prepared to carry the full freight of the consequences of their actions. For most of us this is, quite simply, reality. It is clearly not so for the courts.

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(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today)