New South Wales v Brown

The New South Wales Court of Appeal considered a claim in negligence brought by Mr Brown against the State of New South Wales. The dispute concerned the duty of care owed by police officers to a rescuer.

The central legal issue before the Court of Appeal was whether the police owed a duty of care to Mr Brown, who was injured while attempting to rescue a person from a burning vehicle, and if so, whether that duty had been breached.

The Court of Appeal found that the police had not breached any duty of care owed to Mr Brown. The Court applied the principles of negligence, considering the foreseeability of harm to the rescuer and the reasonableness of the police's actions in the circumstances. The Court determined that the police's conduct did not fall below the standard of care expected of a reasonable police officer in that situation.

The appeal was allowed with costs, and orders were made accordingly.