Sabah Mansour v Government Insurance Office of New South Wales

In *Sabah Mansour v Government Insurance Office of New South Wales* [1993] NSWCA 172, the New South Wales Court of Appeal considered an appeal by the plaintiff, Sabah Mansour, against a decision of the District Court. The dispute concerned the plaintiff's entitlement to damages for injuries sustained in a motor vehicle accident, specifically whether the defendant, the Government Insurance Office of New South Wales (GIO), was liable for the injuries suffered by the plaintiff as a passenger in a vehicle.

The central legal issue before the Court of Appeal was whether the plaintiff had established that the driver of the vehicle in which she was a passenger was at fault for the accident, thereby rendering the GIO liable under the relevant compulsory third-party insurance legislation. This required the court to determine the cause of the accident and the extent, if any, to which the driver's actions contributed to the plaintiff's injuries.

The Court of Appeal found that the evidence presented did not establish that the driver of the vehicle was negligent or that their driving caused or contributed to the accident. Consequently, the plaintiff had failed to discharge the onus of proof required to establish the driver's liability. The court applied the principles of negligence, requiring the plaintiff to demonstrate a breach of duty of care by the driver that caused the plaintiff's injuries.

The appeal was dismissed, and the decision of the District Court was affirmed.