A SMALL VICTORY FOR SANITY

"A Sydney hotel and its former licensee today won an appeal against a ruling in which a drunken intruder was awarded nearly $50,000 over injuries suffered during a break-in. Joshua Fox climbed onto the roof and entered an upstairs residence of the Peakhurst Inn, in south west Sydney, when he was denied entry to a nightclub below on April 23, 1999. Hotel licensee, Honeheke Gerald Newton, whose family lived above the pub, found the teenager - then 16 - hiding in his laundry and allegedly struck him with a baton-like object.

The NSW District Court awarded Mr Fox, who suffered face and head injuries requiring surgery, $49,049 in damages. His mother also received damages of $18,578 after suing for nervous shock from seeing her son's injuries. The NSW Court of Appeal today set aside the payouts and ordered a new trial, ruling Mr Newton was denied procedural fairness." More here