Husband who jumped from speeding car and became disabled sues wife who was driving

A husband tried to sue his wife after he jumped from a car she was driving at 50km/h and became disabled.

Brian Lim launched himself from the passenger seat of their Mercedes Benz during a bitter argument on the way home from dinner at a barbecue restaurant in Belmore, west Sydney in 2012.

He was left with ‘catastrophic injuries’ that made him so disabled he was ‘under legal incapacity,’ meaning he could not care for himself. 

In November he claimed in court his wife should have put her foot on the brake to slow down once she realised he was about to jump after he demanded divorce.

But a judge dismissed his claim, saying a reasonable person would have not have jumped from the car at that speed.

The court also heard that Mr Lim’s wife, Eunkyung Cho, was right not to brake because she may have harmed her two young children in the back seat if she suddenly slowed down. 

Mr Lim appealed the judgement but on the NSW Court of Appeal on Monday agreed with the judge’s original decision, reported the ABC.

Acting Justice Ronald Sackville said the case was ‘both unusual and tragic’.

‘There was no evidence … that [she] had any inkling prior to [him] opening the door of the vehicle that he would do something as dangerous as leaping from a moving vehicle,’ he said.

‘Not surprisingly, at first she did not grasp that [he] would act as recklessly as he did.

‘[Her] actions in a sudden crisis not of her own making were not unreasonable in the circumstances she faced.’ 

Brian Lim launched himself from the passenger seat of his Mercedes Benz during a bitter argument on the way home from dinner at a barbecue restaurant in Belmore, west Sydney in 2012 (stock image)