Caffrey v AAI Limited

In Caffrey v AAI Limited, the plaintiff, a police officer, sought damages for psychiatric injury sustained after witnessing the aftermath of a fatal motor vehicle accident. The accident was caused by the defendant's employee, who was allegedly negligent. The defendant denied that the driver owed a duty of care to the plaintiff to avoid causing psychiatric harm. The plaintiff argued that this denial was bad in law and sought to have it struck out. Alternatively, the plaintiff applied for a preliminary determination of whether the driver owed the duty of care in the circumstances pleaded.

The court examined the legal principles governing the duty of care in negligence actions, particularly in cases involving psychiatric harm. The court considered the established principles from precedent cases that generally limit the circumstances in which a duty of care can be owed for psychiatric harm, particularly when the harm results from witnessing the aftermath of an accident rather than directly experiencing the event. The court concluded that the denial of the duty of care was not so bad in law as to warrant being struck out. The court also declined to exercise its discretion to order a separate determination of the duty of care issue, finding that it was appropriate for the question to be resolved at the trial.

The application to strike out the pleaded defence and to determine the duty of care issue separately was dismissed. The court determined that these issues were best left to be resolved at the trial of the substantive matter. The plaintiff was ordered to pay the defendant's costs associated with the application.