"Domestic Services" Given Ordinary Meaning – Section 15B Civil Liability Act 2002

Judgment date: 20 April 2010

Liverpool City Council v Altaf Laskar [2010] NSWCA 52

Court of Appeal¹

In Brief

The phrase "domestic services" in s 15B of the Civil Liability Act should be given its ordinary meaning and not given a restricted meaning and therefore includes services that are nursing or palliative care as opposed to services of a purely domestic nature.

Background Circumstances

On 24 December 2005 the plaintiff fell on a footpath. The plaintiff sued Liverpool City Council (the defendant). In the fall the plaintiff suffered significant injury to his knee.

One of the plaintiff's daughters, who at the time of trial was 14, suffered Spina Bifida and was wheelchair bound and required a good deal of physical assistance every day.