The County Court of Victoria has affirmed that the duty
of care owed to plaintiffs in personal injury actions is not a
guarantee of safety. Even with reasonable care, bad things
sometimes happen to good people.
Kennedys acted for the Second Defendant, Consolidated Property
Services Pty Ltd (CPS), and was successful in
defending the claim.
The facts
In July 2019, the plaintiff slipped on some water and fell in
Northland Shopping Centre in Melbourne (Northland)
and, as a result, suffered injury to her right knee (the
incident). The plaintiff, a 61 year old woman at the time
of judgment, brought proceedings in negligence against the manager
of the shopping centre, Vicinity Centres PM Pty Ltd
(Vicinity), and its contracted cleaner, CPS, in
relation to the incident.
