Seeley International Pty Ltd v Jeffrey - [2013] VSCA 288

SUPREME COURT OF VICTORIA

COURT OF APPEAL

S APCI 2012 0178
SEELEY INTERNATIONAL PTY LTD (ACN 054 687 035)	Appellant
v
NOEL VIVIAN JEFFREY and HELEN MARY JEFFREY	Respondents

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JUDGES	WARREN CJ, NETTLE and WHELAN JJA
WHERE HELD	MELBOURNE
DATE OF HEARING	23 September 2013
DATE OF JUDGMENT	18 October 2013
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION	[2013] VSCA 288
JUDGMENT APPEALED FROM	Jeffrey v Seeley International Pty Limited [2012] VCC 1043 (Judge Macnamara)

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NEGLIGENCE – Product liability – Causation – House fire damaged respondents’ home in 2003 – Competing expert evidence as to the whether the fire was caused by evaporative air cooler or downlights – Whether evaporative air cooler manufactured by the appellant was the cause of a house fire – Whether judge erred in rejecting alternative theories as to cause of fire – Whether findings were against the evidence and weight of evidence – Transport Industries Insurance Co Ltd v Longmuir [1997] 1 VR 125 applied; March v Stramare Pty Ltd (1991) 171 CLR 506; Nom v Director of Public Prosecutions [2012] VSCA 198 referred to – Appeal Dismissed.

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Appearances:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Appellant	Mr P J Riordan SC with Mr N D Hopkins	Norton Rose Fulbright
For the Respondents	Mr A J Kelly SC with Mr A D Clements SC	Ligeti Partners

WARREN CJ

NETTLE JA
WHELAN JA:

This is an appeal from a judgment given in the County Court. The judge held that the appellant (‘Seeley’) was guilty of negligence in the manufacture of an evaporative air cooler[1] by equipping the unit with a P0 start capacitor rather than a P2 start capacitor, and that as a consequence the cooler caught fire and caused damage by fire to the respondents’ (‘the Jeffreys’) home. The judge also held that the use of a P0 capacitor rather than a P2 capacitor contravened s 75G of the Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth). His Honour awarded the Jeffreys damages of $308,000 with interest of $232,689.76 and costs.
[1]In the product warranty, called a Breezair Evaporative Air Conditioner.

The facts

In brief, the facts were as follows:

1) The Jeffreys lived in a house built in 1996. One of the features of the house was a Seeley Breezair Evaporative Air Cooler mounted on the iron roof above the kitchen/meals area.

2) On 21 January 2003, the Jeffreys were at home on annual leave. At about 4.00 am, Mrs Jeffrey was woken by her daughter, Michelle, who said that there was smoke in the house. There had been bushfires the previous day and Mrs Jeffrey believed that the smoke was bushfire smoke coming from outside the house. Accordingly, she turned off the air cooler, which had been running throughout the night, and closed all the windows. Then she went back to bed.

3) When Mr and Mrs Jeffrey woke again at about 8.00 am, Mrs Jeffrey went from the master bedroom to the kitchen to make coffee for Mr Jeffrey. In the process, she noticed a ‘haze’ of…

Grounds of appeal

[14] The appellant contends that the primary judge erred in finding that the respondent had discharged the onus of establishing the matters required under the relevant provision.

[15] It was submitted that his Honour failed to give adequate weight to the evidence of the second witness, and that the findings of fact were not reasonably open on the material before the Court.

[16] The respondent, for its part, submits that no error is disclosed, and that the conclusions reached were well within the range of outcomes available to the primary judge.

Consideration

[17] It is convenient to deal first with the question of construction, as the resolution of that issue informs the remaining grounds advanced by the appellant.

[18] For the reasons that follow, we are of the view that the appeal should be allowed in part and the matter remitted for further determination.

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Details

Case: [2013] VSCA 288
Decision Date: 18 October 2013

CaseChat Overview and Summary

The dispute in Seeley International Pty Ltd v Jeffrey involved the appellant, Seeley International, a manufacturer of evaporative air coolers, and the respondents, the owners of a house that was damaged by a fire in 2003. The respondents alleged that the fire was caused by a fault in an air cooler manufactured by the appellant. The case was heard by the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Victoria, which was required to determine whether the lower court judge had erred in finding that the air cooler was not the cause of the fire.

The central legal issue in the case was whether the appellant was negligent in manufacturing the air cooler and whether that negligence caused the fire that damaged the respondents' home. The respondents had to prove that the appellant was liable for the damage caused by the fire, while the appellant argued that the fire was not caused by its product but rather by another source, such as the downlights. The expert evidence provided by both parties was conflicting, leading to a challenge in determining the true cause of the fire.

In its judgment, the Court of Appeal found that the lower court judge did not err in rejecting the alternative theories as to the cause of the fire. The court held that the judge was entitled to prefer the evidence of the respondents' experts over that of the appellant's experts, as the former provided a more plausible explanation for the cause of the fire. The court also found that the judge's findings were not against the evidence or the weight of evidence, and that the appellant's appeal was accordingly dismissed. The court relied on the principles set out in Transport Industries Insurance Co Ltd v Longmuir, March v E & MH Stramare Pty Ltd, and Nom v Director of Public Prosecutions in reaching its decision.

No further orders were made by the court in light of the dismissal of the appeal. The respondents were therefore entitled to recover damages from the appellant for the damage caused to their home by the fire.

Orders