Gifford v Strang Patrick Stevedoring Pty Ltd

The case of *Gifford v Strang Patrick Stevedoring Pty Ltd* concerned a claim for damages for mental injury brought by the widow and children of a worker who died in a horrific accident. The worker's employer, Strang Patrick Stevedoring Pty Ltd, was the defendant. The matter was heard in the Court of Appeal of New South Wales.

The central legal issues before the court were whether the plaintiffs had suffered compensable mental or nervous shock, whether section 151P of the *Workers Compensation Act 1987* (NSW) provided a cause of action for damages for mental injury, and whether the *Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1944* (NSW) excluded common law liability in this context. The court also had to determine whether the children of the deceased worker possessed a common law claim for damages.

The Court of Appeal held that the plaintiffs had established a claim for mental injury. The court reasoned that the employer owed a duty of care to the worker's family to avoid causing them psychiatric injury, and that this duty extended to the circumstances of the notification of the worker's death. The court found that the *Workers Compensation Act* did not preclude common law claims for damages for psychiatric injury, and that the *Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act* did not exclude such common law liability. The court affirmed that the children had a valid common law claim.

The appeals were dismissed with costs.