Davis v Shipgap Pty Ltd & Anor

In *Davis v Shipgap Pty Ltd & Anor*, the plaintiff, Ms. Davis, appealed to the Full Court of the Supreme Court of Western Australia against a decision of a single judge that dismissed her claim for damages for personal injuries. Ms. Davis alleged that she had suffered injury when disembarking from a ferry operated by the defendants, Shipgap Pty Ltd and its insurer, arguing that the defendants had failed to exercise reasonable care for her safety.

The central legal issue before the Full Court was whether the primary judge had erred in finding that the defendants had taken all reasonable precautions to prevent injury to passengers, and therefore had not breached their duty of care. This involved an assessment of the adequacy of the safety measures in place at the time Ms. Davis disembarked, and whether those measures were sufficient to discharge the defendants' duty of care to their passengers.

The Full Court upheld the primary judge's findings, concluding that the evidence did not establish a breach of duty. The Court reasoned that the defendants had implemented a system of work that was reasonably safe, and that the specific circumstances of Ms. Davis's injury did not demonstrate a failure to take reasonable care. The principles applied were those of common law negligence, focusing on the standard of care owed by a ferry operator to its passengers and the assessment of whether that standard had been met.

Consequently, the appeal was dismissed with costs.