Gary Nigel Roberts v Westpac Banking Corporation

Gary Nigel Roberts (the appellant) appealed to the Court of Appeal of New South Wales against a decision of the primary judge who found that Westpac Banking Corporation (the respondent) did not owe him a duty of care. The dispute concerned whether the bank had a legal obligation to protect its customers from the actions of criminal third parties.

The central legal issue before the Court of Appeal was whether a bank owes a duty of care to its customers to protect them from the criminal conduct of third parties. The primary judge had determined that no such duty was owed, and the appeal sought to challenge this finding.

The Court of Appeal, comprising Murrell CJ, Burns and Gilmour JJ, dismissed the appeal. Their Honours upheld the primary judge's conclusion that a bank does not owe a general duty of care to its customers to protect them from the criminal actions of third parties. The court applied established principles of negligence law, which generally do not impose a duty on one party to protect another from the independent criminal acts of a stranger, unless there are exceptional circumstances not present in this case.

Consequently, the appeal was dismissed, and the appellant was ordered to pay the respondent's costs.