THE widow of a Queensland farmer killed in a car accident has won a legal battle for compensation to help her continue the couple's farm.
In a ruling of the Brisbane Supreme Court, 67-year-old Glenys Schimke was awarded about $200,000 after a judge found the loss of her hardworking husband had left her unable to maintain their cattle and crop business near Gatton, west of Brisbane.
Reg Schimke was killed on February 2, 2008 when his car collided with a trailer being towed by a four-wheel-drive on Gatton-Clifton Road.
Mrs Schimke sued the other driver's insurer, Suncorp Metway, claiming the driver of the four-wheel-drive was negligent when he drove towards her husband on a single-lane bridge.
The driver told police he proceeded to the bridge because he believed Mr Schimke was giving way to him.
The court found both drivers were at fault but Justice Peter Applegarth accepted Mrs Schimke was entitled to be compensated for her emotional distress and the loss of Mr Schimke to the pair's farm.
He took into account Mr Schimke worked more than eight hours a day, seven days a week, and in drought years earned money by taking on labour jobs outside the farm.
He had been returning from grape cutting in Stanthorpe, on the day of the accident.
Justice Applegarth said since her husband's death Mrs Schimke continued to toil on the farm from dawn until dusk but had been forced to hire outside labour to do fencing and to mow and bale lucerne hay.
Without her husband, Mrs Schimke was unable to plant and harvest potato crops and the farm has deteriorated.
The court accepted had Mr Schimke survived, the farm's income would have been much higher.
"What was lost was not simply the income of a husband who went off to work each day," Justice Applegarth said.
"The plaintiff's loss is not limited to loss of services to the business in which she was a partner. Her loss is in respect of services on a farm which was both a source of income for her and her husband, and also their home."