Wife wins $760,000 compensation after husband was taken to wrong address in taxi

A Gold Coast Coast mother has been awarded more than $760,000 in what is thought to be the first time in Australia a taxi driver has been found negligent for failing to ensure an intoxicated passenger was delivered to the correct address. Elizabeth French was awarded the payout in Brisbane Supreme Court on Friday, bringing to an end more than seven years of legal battles since her husband Stephen Crouch, 36, was killed on Currumburra Rd, Ashmore in May, 2003.

Mr Crouch and Ms French were at a party in Southport on May 31 when Ms French, who was heavily pregnant at the time, went home leaving her husband to drink with his friends. Hours later, an intoxicated Mr Crouch was put into a cab by his mates who told the driver his address, however he was dropped at the wrong place and, in an attempt to get himself home, he was hit by two vehicles and died at the scene.



Justice George Fryberg on Friday found the cab driver, Stephen Earea, had left Mr Crouch lying on the side of Yangoora Crescent when he was unable to find his actual address. Mr Earea called the police but left Mr Crouch shortly afterwards. "Mr Earea ought reasonably to have known that if he failed to deliver Mr Crouch to his home or otherwise to a situation of safety, but left him lying on the footpath, there was a risk that Mr Crouch would wake up, wander on to the carriageway ... and be hit by a vehicle," Justice Fryberg said.

"In the circumstances a reasonable person in Mr Earea's position would have confirmed and recorded the address and would not have left Mr Crouch as Mr Earea did. Such a person would have allowed Mr Crouch to remain in the taxi until the police arrived or taken one of the other reasonable courses open in the circumstances." Mr Earea died before the trial began, leaving his insurance company to foot the bill after it "consented to be substituted for him in respect of the liability alleged against him".