In assessing damages for loss of earning capacity during the lost years, only expenditure necessary to maintain the plaintiff's earning capacity is deducted from probable future earnings — not expenditure on personal pleasures, entertainment or indulgence. The range of deductible expenditure is greater for the lost years than for the period of remaining life expectancy because the plaintiff will not be alive to incur maintenance costs. On apportionment between multiple tortfeasors in mesothelioma cases, differential degrees of exposure to risk provide a rational basis for unequal apportionment under s 5(2) of the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1946 (NSW), and it is wrong to hold that apportionment must be equal merely because causation cannot be precisely divided between defendants.
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