State of New South Wales v Klein

The Court of Appeal of New South Wales heard an appeal by the State of New South Wales against a decision that refused to strike out a claim for psychiatric injury brought by the relatives of a deceased individual who had been fatally shot by police. The plaintiffs alleged that the police owed them a duty of care.

The central legal issue before the Court of Appeal was whether the police owed a duty of care to the plaintiffs, who were relatives of a person killed during a police operation, such that the police could be held liable for psychiatric injury suffered by those relatives. This required the court to consider the circumstances under which a duty of care might arise in the context of police actions and the potential for establishing an assumption of responsibility by the police towards the plaintiffs.

The Court of Appeal determined that there was no assumption of responsibility by the police towards the plaintiffs. Applying established principles of negligence, particularly concerning the duty of care owed by police, the court found that the circumstances did not give rise to such a duty. Consequently, the court allowed the appeal, set aside the order of the court below, and dismissed the plaintiffs' claim with costs, ordering the respondents to pay the costs of the appeal.