Burnie Port Authority v General Jones Pty Ltd

The High Court of Australia considered an appeal from the Supreme Court of Tasmania in *Burnie Port Authority v General Jones Pty Ltd*. The dispute concerned damage caused by a fire that originated at a cold store leased by General Jones Pty Ltd from the Burnie Port Authority. The fire spread to adjacent land owned by the Port Authority and caused damage to goods stored there by other parties, including the appellant, Burnie Port Authority. The Port Authority sought to recover damages from General Jones Pty Ltd for the loss of its own property and for the loss suffered by the other owners of goods.

The central legal issue before the High Court was whether the common law rule in *Rylands v Fletcher* applied to the facts of the case, and if so, whether General Jones Pty Ltd was liable for the damage caused by the fire. Specifically, the court had to determine if the storage of combustible materials in the cold store constituted a "non-natural use" of the land, thereby engaging the rule in *Rylands v Fletcher*. The court also considered the extent to which the rule in *Rylands v Fletcher* had been absorbed into the tort of negligence.

The High Court, by majority, held that the rule in *Rylands v Fletcher* had been subsumed by the tort of negligence. Their Honours reasoned that the strict liability imposed by *Rylands v Fletcher* was not justified in modern law, and that liability for damage caused by the escape of dangerous substances or things brought onto land should be determined by the principles of negligence. The court found that General Jones Pty Ltd had not been negligent in its storage of the combustible materials, and therefore, it was not liable for the damage caused by the fire.

The appeal was dismissed.