Taylor v Owners - Strata Plan No 11564

In *Taylor v Owners - Strata Plan No 11564*, the New South Wales Court of Appeal considered a dispute concerning the calculation of damages for future economic loss under the *Compensation to Relatives Act 1897* (NSW). The appellant, representing the dependants of a deceased person, sought to appeal a decision that limited the amount of the deceased's income that could be considered when assessing future loss of support. The respondents were the owners of the strata plan.

The central legal issue before the Court of Appeal was whether section 12 of the *Civil Liability Act 2002* (NSW), which imposes a limit on the income of a "claimant" that can be considered when assessing future economic loss, applied to claims brought under the *Compensation to Relatives Act 1897*. This required the Court to determine whether the deceased person, in the context of a claim for loss of dependency, could be considered a "claimant" for the purposes of section 12.

The Court of Appeal held that the deceased person was not a "claimant" within the meaning of section 12 of the *Civil Liability Act 2002*. The Court reasoned that the term "claimant" in section 12 referred to the person making the claim, which in this instance were the dependants, not the deceased. To interpret "claimant" as referring to the deceased would require the Court to insert words into the statute that Parliament had not used, which is contrary to established principles of statutory interpretation. The Court affirmed that a purposive construction of the *Civil Liability Act 2002* did not support such an interpretation, and that the *Compensation to Relatives Act 1897* operated independently in this regard.

The Court of Appeal granted leave to appeal but ultimately dismissed the appeal, ordering the appellant to pay the respondents' costs.