Adeels Palace Pty Ltd v Moubarak

The High Court of Australia considered appeals from the New South Wales Court of Appeal concerning a negligence claim brought by two patrons, Mr. Moubarak and Mr. Adeel, who were shot during a New Year's Eve function at a restaurant operated by Adeels Palace Pty Ltd. The plaintiffs alleged that the defendant owed them a duty of care to prevent injury from the conduct of other patrons, particularly due to the absence of licensed security personnel at the function.

The central legal issues before the High Court were whether the defendant owed a duty of care to the plaintiffs to prevent them from being injured by the criminal conduct of other patrons, whether this duty was breached by the failure to provide licensed security, and crucially, whether the absence of security was a necessary condition for the shootings to occur, thus satisfying the test for factual causation. The relevance of statutory requirements under the *Liquor Act 1982* (NSW) and the size and nature of the function, as well as past incidents at the premises, were also considered in relation to the alleged breach of duty.

The High Court determined that while a duty of care might exist in certain circumstances to protect patrons from the foreseeable criminal acts of others, the plaintiffs had failed to establish the necessary causal link between the absence of licensed security and their injuries. The Court applied the "but for" test of factual causation, finding that it was not demonstrated that the shootings would not have occurred "but for" the lack of security. Consequently, the plaintiffs could not establish that the defendant's alleged breach of duty materially contributed to their loss, and therefore, the claim in negligence failed on the grounds of causation.

The appeals were allowed with costs. The orders of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of New South Wales were set aside, and in their place, orders were made allowing the appeals to that Court with costs, setting aside the judgments of the District Court of New South Wales, and entering judgment for the defendant with costs.