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November 2014

Singapore Law Watch#
Sydney carpark crash: S'pore widow awarded $2.9m Print Share on facebook Share on twitter Share on email


SYDNEY - A Singaporean woman, who witnessed her husband reverse his car over the edge of a second-storey carpark in Sydney and plunge to his death, has been awarded A$2.6 million (S$2.9 million) in damages.







In March 2006, Ms Michelle Lee was with her husband Thomas Lee at the carpark of the Carlton Crest Hotel (Sydney) in the city's Haymarket area.



She alighted first, before her husband reversed the vehicle into a parking space, driving at no more than 5kmh. But the car hit a metal barrier which gave way.



With nothing to stop it, the car crashed 9m to the ground. The 34-year-old was later pronounced dead.



Ms Lee, now 41, sued Carlton Crest and the City of Sydney Council for negligence, loss of future earnings and for the nervous shock she suffered on witnessing her husband's death, among other things.



Justice Robert Beech-Jones yesterday awarded Ms Lee the damages during a brief New South Wales (NSW) Supreme Court hearing, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.



The payment will be split, with 75 per cent paid by the parking station operator and the rest by the City of Sydney. The parties will return to court on Nov 6 to argue costs. At an earlier hearing, Justice Beech-Jones said the incident caused "an almost complete psychological collapse affecting every part of her life, including her promising career as a speech pathologist".



The NSW Supreme Court found that Carlton was negligent because it was aware of numerous problems resulting from poor construction and maintenance of the concrete wheel stops and metal perimeter railing.



The City of Sydney Council was also found negligent for certifying the carpark for commercial use, because the barrier failed to comply with Australian standards.



The court had heard that the couple married in 2000, when both were 27, and were based in Sydney.



Ms Lee grew up in Singapore, where she worked for four years as a special education teacher. Mr Lee was a former Straits Times journalist and had been working with Sydney Ports Corporation as a systems analyst.



Source: Straits Times © Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. Permission required for reproduction.





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