"SUPREME COURT.
CAUSES IN NO. 3 COURT.
(Before Mr. Acting Justice Owen and jury.)
FALL IN A THEATRE.
Rangeley v Hoyts Theatres, Ltd.
Mrs. Annetta Rangeley, aged 63 years, of
Wellington Street, Bondi, sued Hoyts
Theatres, Ltd., to recover £2000 damages in
respect of injuries which the plaintiff alleged
she had received through a fall in the de-
fendant company's theatre at Bondi Junc-
tion in July, 1930, during a Saturday after-
noon matinee performance.
The plaintiff was carried into the court
on a stretcher, which was placed in front
of and below the jury box. The plaintiff
alleged that, because of the negligence of the
defendant company in the management of
the theatre, and its failure to provide ade-
quate lighting and proper attendance, she fell
over a step near the entrance to the auditor-
ium, and sustained a fractured hip.
Plaintiff alleged that the lights were out,
and that the passage in the theatre, in which
she fell, was unsatisfactorily lighted during
the performance.
The defendant company pleaded that it
reasonably provided for the plaintiff's safety
upon her entering the auditorium of the
theatre and proceeding to obtain a seat there-
in; also that, during the performance in the
theatre, it had lighted the passage satisfac-
torily. The defendant company denied other
allegations by the plaintiff, and pleaded not
guilty.
The action is part heard.
Mr. W. Curtis, K.O., and Mr. H, Snelling
(instructed by Messrs. H. J. Price and Co.)
appeared for the plaintiff; and Mr. R. Win-
deyer, K.C, and Mr. C. Cook (instructed by
Messrs. Minter, Simpson, and Co.) for the de-
fendant company."