Sdrolias v Allianz Australia Insurance Ltd

The appeal in *Sdrolias v Allianz Australia Insurance Ltd* concerned a claim for damages for a purely psychiatric injury, specifically post-traumatic stress disorder, allegedly suffered by the appellant. The appellant alleged that she witnessed a motor vehicle accident and that this event caused her injury. The respondent, the insurer, disputed both the occurrence of the event as described by the appellant and the existence of her alleged symptoms. The matter came before the Court of Appeal of New South Wales.

The central legal issues before the Court of Appeal were whether the trial judge had erred in fact-finding, particularly in disbelieving the appellant's evidence regarding both the event she claimed to have witnessed and the symptoms she asserted she suffered. The Court was required to consider the importance of affording due deference to a trial judge's findings of fact, given their advantage in observing and hearing the witnesses give evidence.

The Court of Appeal affirmed the trial judge's findings of fact. It was held that the trial judge was entitled to disbelieve the appellant's evidence, both as to the event and as to her alleged psychiatric injury. The Court emphasised that appellate courts should be slow to overturn a trial judge's findings of fact, especially where those findings depend on the assessment of witness credibility and the demeanour of the witnesses. The trial judge's advantage in observing the witnesses was paramount in this assessment.

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