Taylor v. The Owners - Strata Plan No 11564 and Ors

Lower Court Judgment

18/03/2013 Supreme Court of New South Wales (Court of Appeal) (McColl JA, Basten JA and Hoeben JA)

[2013] NSWCA 55

Catchwords

Statutes – Interpretation – Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW) (“the CLA Act”) – Appellant brought claim under the Compensation to Relatives Act 1897 (NSW) for compensation for accidental death of her husband – Section 12(2) of the CLA Act directs the court to disregard “excess” earnings of a high-earning “claimant” but does not refer to earnings of the “deceased” – Late husband had earned substantially in excess of three times average weekly earnings – Whether a reference to “a deceased person’s” earnings can be read into section 12(2) of the CLA Act so as to disregard the deceased person’s earnings above the statutory formula – Whether additional words can be read into a statute where ordinary meaning of the text is not unreasonable or absurd.

Short Particulars