Stocovaz v Fung [2007] NSWCA 199 is a rare thing: a superior court decision about motor vehicle property damage litigation, more commonly known as ‘crash ‘n’ bash’. The New South Wales Court of Appeal said that the plaintiff is entitled to the amount actually paid for repairs unless the defendant can establish that it was ‘extravagant’ in the sense of being outside the range of amounts which a reasonable person would pay for the repairs. There seems to be a policy to avoid clogging up the courts with cases which take a comparatively long time to hear, but amount to squabbles between insurers over differences of a few thousand dollars. Carter Newell’s case note is here.
