Where a plaintiff has a poor pre-accident employment record with intermittent work, the standard 15% vicissitudes discount may need to be significantly increased. The majority held that a 30% discount was within the range of sound discretionary judgment, while Basten JA considered 50% appropriate. The case also confirms that a Bullock order is not justified merely because it was reasonable for the plaintiff to join the successful defendant as a matter of caution; some conduct by the unsuccessful defendant supporting the joinder is required. The relationship between the Watts v Rake disentanglement principle and the Malec approach to hypothetical future events, particularly the distinction between divisible and indivisible loss, was identified as an unresolved question.
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