Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter
THE GOVERNMENT has filed an appeal against a $10 million Supreme Court award to the widow of Harold Simpson who was the chief architect in the firm Harold Simpson and Associates.
Simpson, who was injured in a motor vehicle accident on March 25, 1997, was being transported to the Cornwall Regional Hospital that same day when the ambulance he was in was involved in an accident.
The stretcher was dislodged from its position, throwing Simpson to the floor, and as a result he suffered serious head injuries.
Simpson filed a suit against the Attorney-General because of the injuries he sustained in the government-owned ambulance.
He also sued the estate of Ernest Clarke whose motor car was involved in the accident with the ambulance. Clarke died as a result of the accident. Joseph Thorpe, the owner of the motor car which was first involved in the accident with Simpson, and the driver of the motor car, Derrick Russell, were also sued.
WIDOW AWARDED $10 MILLION
Simpson, 73, died after he filed the suit and his widow Evelyn was substituted as the claimant. Last year November Justice Norma McIntosh awarded a total of $10.7 million with interest at six per cent against the four defendants and ordered the Attorney-General to pay 50 per cent of the award. The award included $2 million for loss of earnings and $2.6 million for special damages.
The Attorney-General is seeking to have the award set aside on the ground that the judge erred in her decision because the second collision was caused by the sole negligence of the deceased Ernest Clarke.
In the grounds of appeal filed, the Attorney-General is also contending that the judge erred in holding that the agents of the Attorney-General failed in their duty to Simpson to see that he was properly secured in the back of the ambulance.
