Case Study: Negligence and Tort Law in the Australian Legal System

This case study provides a comprehensive overview of Australian Tort Law, with a specific focus on the concept of negligence. It begins by outlining the main aims and purposes of civil law, followed by definitions of Tort Law and negligence. The core of the study involves analyzing two articles to demonstrate the practical application of the elements of negligence: duty of care, breach of duty, causation, and damages. The first article examines a case where a police officer's family sued the state due to her suicide, highlighting the breach of duty of care by the police force. The second article discusses construction safety violations and the resulting fines, showcasing negligence in the workplace. The study explores relevant legal precedents, such as Vaughan v Menlove and Barnett v Chelsea & Kensington Hospital, to illustrate key principles. The conclusion summarizes how the elements of negligence were met in the case scenarios and emphasizes the importance of institutions prioritizing the safety and well-being of their employees. The study also references various sources to support its findings and provides a detailed understanding of the Australian legal system, specifically civil and tort law.

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introduction to australia legal system
TORT LAW
[DATE]
[Company name]
[Company address]

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Introduction
In this case study all the essential information regarding the civil laws in Australia will be
determined n or discussed in detail. The Tort law which is one of its essential part will also be
analyised under this head and the elements which can satisfy the negligence will discussed in
detail. All this will be done by analyzing two articles i.e. Family of NSW policewoman who took
her own life suing state for millions can be determined as Article 1. Whereas Construction safety
blitz leads to $820,000 in fines and prosecutions can be determined as Article 2.
Introduction to civil laws
Civil Laws are basically derived out of the ancient Rome, where the doctrines were made to
develop this codes and they now are considered as those body of rules which defines and protects
all the private rights of the citizens and then offers them those legal remedies that may be sought
through the disputes (Rankin & Bamford, 2017). It covers those areas of law which are left
untouched by that of the criminal laws i.e. contract, tort, property and family laws ( Lockhart, , et
al., 2014).
In short civil laws can be defined as those rights and responsibilities which are given to all the
individuals, entities of the government or the non-governmental organizations while interacting
with each other (Rankin & Bamford, 2017). The civil law basically has four essential aims or
purposes i.e. first establishing standards, second is maintaining the orders, third is to resolve the
dispute and last one is to protect the rights and liberties of the individuals ( Lockhart, , et al.,
2014).
Tort law is a very essential branch of the civil laws which is basically concerned with the injuries
held to the person as individual and civil wrongdoing (Harlow, 2005). Thus tort can be defined
as that civil wrong done to any person or its entity by another which may result in injury or

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damage and very often involves the monetary compensation to the party which is injured. Tort is
basically divided under three heads i.e. negligence, intentional tort as well as strict liability
(Stewart, & Stuhmcke, 2017).
Negligence is considered as the unintentional tort and it is said to be occurred if the following
four conditions are satisfied. Duty is the first one out of them, which states that it is the duty of
the defendant to conduct its act in a reasonable manner. Second one if the breaching of duty
means that the defendant has failed to comply with its act in a reasonable manner. Third
condition is causation which states that the breach of duty which was done by the defendant must
cause a certain type of damage, loss or injury to the plaintiff. Last one is the damages which may
be monetary, proprietary or any other loss (Patty, 2018).
Two articles that can very well demonstrate the understanding of the Tort law and specially the
negligent element of the law are
The plaintiff in article 1 are Nr. McDonald, his wife Gabrielle who was also a police officer and
was suffering from PTSD due to her duty and also her two children
Whereas the defendant are the police force of New South Wales and the State and ABC, Dr.
Verma (Knowles, 2016).
The plaintiff in this article 2 are the workers and their families, David Frith, a self-employed
plumber of 24 years (Patty, 2018).
Whereas the defendant are the construction sites of NSW who could not provide the safety
measures to its workers even after the state government has taken diverse steps to improve their
safety measures (Luntz, et al., 2017).
In the case scenario of Family of NSW policewoman who took her own life suing state for
millions, where the Police force of NSW, the State and the ABC were the defendants. Here it

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was seen that the police Officials were not able to maintain or provide a safer working
environment to their official or were also not able to avoid causing them injury to the self, the
State were also not able to provide proper and adequate training for performing their duties and
avail them with the proper care or teach them to tackle with the existing situations. Police
officials here were seeming to fail in developing a proper or well devised system for monitoring
their mental conditions involving numerous distress or traumas (Knowles, 2016). The fail to
provide a workable environment to their officials breaches the duty of care element of Tort of
negligence, all the irresponsible or negligence done in the duty of care had forced Gabrielle to
take her own life i.e. to suicide and damage was also faced by entire of her family i.e. her
husband and two children. Second element i.e. causing of damage by the act of the defendant
was meet. The State and the police force were thus not able to comply with their duty in a proper
manner ( Lockhart, , et al., 2014).
The consequences of the violating the three elements of the tort of negligence in the above case
scenario can be a very diverse one, basically for the society or for the families of the officials
working in police force and sometimes the officials itself may be directly targeted of these
breaches.
Breach of duty of care as was seen in the case where the police force was not able to look after
their officials or provide them an appropriate working environment and the similar type of
situation was also seen in the case of Vaughan v Menlove (1837) 3 Bing NC 467. Here it was
seen that even after a number of warnings on different occasions the defendant did not take any
action for protecting his haystack, which had finally caught fire due to the poor ventilation
facility. Similarly in the case scenario also signs of distress were very clearly seen in the

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behavior of Gabrielle but no steps were taken to protect her and hence she had to undergo with a
very diverse step (Knowles, 2016).
Causation element of negligence of tort which was seen in the case scenario was also got
emphasize in the case of Barnett v Chelsea & Kensington Hospital [1969] 1 QB 428 where it
was seen that there was a patient who had come along with some stomach ache and other
problems but was sent back to home by the doctor stating that come back and talk next day in the
morning and this had lead the patient serious problems. This was also seen in the case where
Gabrielle was facing stressful situation and had also tried to suicide by doctor Verma had
regarded that as her drama and did not take it seriously (Goudkamp, 2014).
Remoteness of damage was determined in the case of, The Wagon Mound no 1 [1961] AC 388.
Here it was seen that due to the mistake of the defendant the entire vessel had caught fire and lots
of loss was triggered similarly the negligence of the state forced Gabrielle to take such a work
step (Goodhand, & O'Brien, 2015).
Conclusion
Hence to conclude the above report it can be determined that all the elements of trot of
negligence were meet in the above case scenario. Thus it is the duty of all the institutions to look
after the safety of its employees and protect their lives. Civil laws of Australia is completely
explained along with the tort law and negligence as one of its essential term.

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Bibliography
Lockhart, , C., Hemming,, A. & Penovic, T., 2014. Civil Procedure in Australia. Australia:
LexisNexis Butterworths.
Goodhand, , C. & O'Brien, P., 2015. Intentional Tort Litigation in Australia: Assault, False
Imprisonment, Malicious Prosecution and Related Claims. Australia: Federation Press.
Goudkamp, J., 2014. Tort Law Defences. Australia: A&C Black.
Harlow, C., 2005. Understanding Tort Law. s.l.:Sweet & Maxwell.
Knowles, L., 2016. Family of NSW policewoman who took her own life suing state for millions.
[Online]
Available at: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-11/family-of-nsw-policewoman-who-took-
her-own-life-suing-state/7576870
[Accessed 22 09 2019].
Luntz, H., Hambly, D. & Burns, K., 2017. Torts: cases and commentary.. Australia: LexisNexis
Butterworths..
Patty, A., 2018. Construction safety blitz leads to $820,000 in fines and prosecutions. [Online]
Available at: https://www.smh.com.au/business/workplace/construction-safety-blitz-leads-to-
820-000-in-fines-and-prosecutions-20180628-p4zocf.html
[Accessed 22 09 2019].
Rankin, ,. M. J. & Bamford, D., 2017. Principles of Civil Litigation. 3rd ed. s.l.:Thomson
Reuters (Professional) Australia Pty Limited.
Stewart, , P. & Stuhmcke, A., 2017. Australian Principles of Tort Law. 4th ed. Australia:
Federation Press.

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