An appellate court conducting a rehearing will draw its own inferences from undisputed or established facts, including independent witness evidence, and will not defer to the trial judge's assessment of contributory negligence apportionment where the court concludes the relative departures from the standard of care were of the same order rather than significantly different. The case illustrates the application of Warren v Coombes principles to reassess apportionment from 60/40 to 50/50.
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