Taylor v The Owners - Strata Plan No 11564

The appeal concerned the construction of section 12(2) of the *Civil Liability Act 2002* (NSW) in the context of damages awarded under the *Compensation to Relatives Act 1897* (NSW). The appellant, the widow of the deceased Mr Craig Taylor, brought a representative action against the respondents for damages for the loss of financial support expected from her late husband, who died in an accident. The central dispute was whether section 12(2) of the *Civil Liability Act*, which limits awards by disregarding a claimant's gross weekly earnings exceeding three times the average weekly earnings, applied to the deceased's earnings in a claim for loss of expectation of financial support.

The High Court was required to determine whether the Court of Appeal erred in its construction of section 12(2) of the *Civil Liability Act 2002* (NSW). Specifically, the court had to decide if this section, which limits awards of damages by reference to a claimant's gross weekly earnings, also applied to limit awards made under sections 3 and 4 of the *Compensation to Relatives Act 1897* (NSW) by reference to the deceased's gross weekly earnings. The core legal issue was whether the phrase "claimant's gross weekly earnings" in section 12(2) could be interpreted to refer to the deceased's earnings in the context of a claim for loss of financial support.

The High Court allowed the appeal, holding that the Court of Appeal had erred in its construction. The Court reasoned that the phrase "claimant's gross weekly earnings" in section 12(2) could not, as a matter of statutory construction, refer to the gross weekly earnings of the deceased. The deceased was not the "claimant" in the proceedings. Therefore, the limitation imposed by section 12(2) did not apply to the deceased's gross weekly earnings when calculating damages for the loss of expectation of financial support under the *Compensation to Relatives Act 1897* (NSW). The Court emphasised that a construction that required reading the deceased's earnings into the provision was irreconcilable with the enacted language.