ARTICLE · 05 JUNE 2017

Road blocks to suing a public authority for negligence

Colin Biggers & Paisley

Explore more from Colin Biggers & Paisley

There are strict thresholds of reasonableness and knowledge to be met before a public authority can be found negligent.

AustraliaGovernment, Public Sector

Mathew Deighton

Alice Blackburn

IN BRIEF - COUNCIL SUCCESSFULLY CLAIMS IMMUNITY FROM LIABILITY

In Mansfield v Great Lakes Council [2016] NSWCA 204, the NSW Court of Appeal recently confirmed the strict thresholds in regard to reasonableness and knowledge that must be established before a public authority can be found negligent.

The Court's decision shows that the standard of reasonableness must be "manifest", in the sense that the evidence must demonstrate that an act or omission was so unreasonable that no roads authority could properly consider it to be a reasonable exercise of, or failure to exercise, its power. It also showed that a claim based on a negligent inspection, which results in not having "actual knowledge" of the risk which materialises, is inconsistent with the statutory scheme.

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