Court Report on Careless/Reckless Driving Case

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LEGISLATION, COURTS AND POLICING
COURT REPORT
Student’s Name
Course
Professor’s Name
University
Date

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Case Title Careless/Reckless Driving
Court No 350th Judicial District
Hearing Date 24th February 2019
Case No C-00-06097-CPV
Judge/Magistrate Sheffield Cochran
Time 10;40 AM
Plaintiff’s Attorney Gridiron Stun
Respondent Attorney Hailee Anderson
Plaintiff Barbra Wilson
Respondent William Johnson
Background
I was lucky to witness the trial in a court hearing as a member of the general public in
the magistrate court. The case I observed was on hearing. It involved careless driving,
whereby the respondent was accused of knocking the plaintiff due to reckless driving. As a
result, the magistrate disqualified the driving licence until there was a verdict to the case, all
of which was agreed upon except the allegations about the use of mobile phones. The act was
against the NSW Motor Accidents Injuries Act 2009 c.50 s.24, s.29 (3) as well as Bail Act
2008 s.4 (7) (Loughnan, 2009). The case was heard by a jury, who were acting together with
the magistrate. After extensive discussion with the court clerk and advice from the jury, the
final verdict was that the defendant was guilty and had a case to answer due to because of
careless driving and is thus he was disqualified from his driving licence for a period of 12
months, with accordance to Road Safety Act 2008 s.47 and until he qualifies his driving test

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after he served the 12 month prohibition period. This coincided with a penalty of $ 7500 in
court fees and compensation to the petitioner.
Date of Hearing
The date of the hearing was set on 24th February 2019. When selecting the date
hearing the court considered all the applications of the adjudication time frame in accordance
with section § 405.1016 of Bail Act 2008 s.4 (7).The hearing was scheduled for the case to be
heard , and a decision to be issued within the applicable adjudication time frame. In addition,
the magistrate was able to account for the 20-day notice requirement when he was scheduling
the hearing and required the notice of the hearing be mailed at least within a period of 20
calendar days before the day that was scheduled for the hearing (Wales, 2017). If the
notification for the hearing date is sent, this requirement is only applicable to the date that the
notice was sent to the parties, and not in the date it was received by the recipients.
Particulars of the case (Court Matter)
On or about 15th November 2018 , the plaintiff was a lawful pedestrian along the 44th
Street, Queensland County close to the push bar area when the respondent carelessly and
recklessly drove and as a result he lost control ,veered off the road and knocked the plaintiff,
causing serious injuries. During the first date of the hearing, a medical report was provided
by Mr. William where he reported that the plaintiff sustained the following injuries:
1. The fracturing of the left tibia and the right fibula
2. A cut wound in the left arm, and
3. Blunt object injury in the left cheek.
The case was for the first hearing where the claimant’s PW forms was presented in
the hearing process and later cross-examined by both his lawyer and the magistrate. On the