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Duty of Care

The term ‘duty of care’ refers to the legal obligation to take reasonable care not to injure or harm another person. This extends to personal injury or death, damage to property, and economic loss.

If a person fails to exercise reasonable care they will likely be found negligent and therefore liable for the injury or harmed sustained.

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The law of negligence is contained in the Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW) (CLA), and the CLA sets out three conditions that must be met for negligence to have occurred:

  1. The risk was foreseeable, or the risk is something that the person should have known
  2. The risk was significant
  3. There was a failure to take precautions, where a reasonable person would have taken such precautions

In deciding whether the duty of care law was breached, the court will look at the link between the negligence and the harm caused, the probability that the harm would occur, the extent of the harm caused, the burden of taking precautions, as well as the unique duty of care relationship.

The type of relationships that are covered by a duty of care claim are extensive. For example, a duty of care exists between:

  • Employer and employee
  • Doctor/hospital and patient
  • School and student
  • Premises owner or occupier and persons on that premises
  • Road user and other road user (pedestrians, bicycle riders, other motorists)

Common duty of care circumstances

While there are many duty of care relationships, some are much more common than others. In the following circumstances a duty of care exists at law:

Doctor and patient

The duty of care a doctor owes to their patients is very complex and exists in all doctor patient relationships. The duty of care in this relationship extends to and includes giving adequate advice, diagnosis and warning regarding risks, and outcomes and possible side effects. The duty of care also exists in the performance of surgery and other medical interventions.

There is also a duty of care between a hospital and its patients, and this duty of care requires that all hospitals provide their patient with reasonable medical care. Anything outside of this duty of care can be defined as medical negligence.

School and student

The duty of care owed in this relationship requires the teachers at the school, and the school itself to take reasonable care for the wellbeing and safety of the students under its control.

The duty of care in this relationship extends not only to physical wellbeing but also psychological wellbeing. For example, if a group of Year One students were not supervised at all during lunch break and a student was injured, the school would likely be found negligent as they did not provide adequate care and supervision for the children, who due to their immature age, need appropriate supervision.

Occupier of premises

The owner or lessor of a property has a duty of care to any occupants on its premises, (also known as occupiers liability). This duty extends to cover slips, trips and falls in venues such as hotels or clubs, shopping centres, and any other privately owned or occupied premises.

Therefore, if you were at your local shopping centre and you slipped on spilt milk on the floor and sustained an injury, it is possible that the supermarket had breached their duty of care to you, as they failed to provide an adequate system of inspection and cleaning of spills where the risk of serious injury was reasonably foreseeable.

Public Liability

Duty of care also extends to public liabilities. This includes injuries sustained in public parks, footpaths, trips on drainage pipes, roadworks, or man holes on public streets, or any other injury occurring on premises that is under the control of local government or other government bodies.

However, these cases are complex as the CLA provides extra protection to local government and government bodies. In order to establish negligence, you will have to prove that the government body had knowledge of the risk. For example, if you were injured by tripping on a footpath, in order to be successful in your negligence claim you would need to establish that the government body knew of the risk posed by the footpath. This could be established by proving previous complaints or injuries associated with the same fault.

As can be seen there are many different circumstances where a duty of care relationship exists, and not all of them can be listed here. All duty of care cases are different and the outcome depends on the circumstances of each individual case.

If you believe you have been injured due to someone else’s negligence, or you believe your injury was caused by someone who owed you a duty of care, it is advised that you consult an accredited professional in personal injury law as you may be able to recover monetary compensation, payment of medicals and treatment, and economic loss.

If you would like to discuss your potential duty of care claim, please contact Matthew Garling on (02) 8518 (02) 8329 9500 or mgarling@garlingandco.com.au.

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Complete our free, no obligation confidential case assessment form and we’ll get back to you within 24 hours.

Alternatively, we are available to talk by phone and email. Please contact our experienced accredited specialist personal injury lawyers to find out how we can help.

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Angie & B.
00:58 18 Sep 24
We cannot recommend Garling and Co. Lawyers highly enough! Our principal solicitor, Matthew Garling, was absolutely outstanding throughout our entire legal journey. He, along with the fantastic team... in the office, especially Allison, provided outstanding support. They were always responsive, willing to listen, and took the time to thoroughly explain the entire process. Thanks to their dedication and expertise, we achieved a brilliant outcome.read more
Yanthi S.
11:22 12 Sep 24
I engaged with Garling and Co to assist me for my weekly payment dispute with the insurance. I was upset with Natasha, as she didn't prepare me to the worse outcome or told me about the kind of... negotiation in the hearing. I assumed that as a Lawyer she should have an experience with the process or the way to solve the case. Even though I asked her what should I do or what would be happened in the hearing a week before but she didn't mentioned anything, and told me not do anything. But in the hearing she and the Barrister only gave me less than 5 minutes to make decision and pushed me to accept the disappointed outcome and what she said in the hearing totally different with what she said earlier. I don't trust her at all, her words is not consistent.I would like to express my appreciation to Matthew Garling who had stepped in to handle my weekly payment issue with the insurance. He is very professional, knowledgeable, easy to talk to and very humble. My disappointment earlier has melted away by his kindness and caring to resolve my issue which has came out the great outcome. Now I am satisfied with his expertise therefore I would not hesitate to let him to handle the case I might have in the future.As I said before I would not hesitate to let my other claim to be handled by a professional as Matthew Garling. I would like to thank him for his time and effort to settle my case smoothly and I trusted him to give me the best outcome. Also I appreciated his support and his patience to answer my questions from the time I signed the agreement up to the day before the mediation. He did not promise the unrealistic outcome but what ever he promised that what the result was according to his experiences. And I would not forget to Alison, Nathan who also have assisted this matters, by gathering all documents and answering my questions.Also my appreciation to a Barrister Mr Dallas Morgan.So, in summary I am really grateful to have Garling and Co as my lawyer to handle my damaged claim.read more
Tina S
07:45 29 Aug 24
Thank you for the great outcome!
Lisa L.
05:18 13 Jul 24
Outstanding service and commitment to my case was delivered from the first point of contact right until the end of my successful case.Highest recommendations to the team at Garling and Co. Matthew... got me an excellent result and was available and informative throughout the entire foreign process of legal proceedings. He was wonderful and so was his team.If i could rate higher than 5 stars i would!read more
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Matthew Garling and all of the team were extremely professional and supportive throughout what was a very long and arduous CTP battle. I am happy with the result and feel that their fees were fair... and well deserved.read more
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Professional, prompt & honest service
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02:19 28 Jun 24
I worked with Garling & Co for 3+ years, the team has been incredible and I could not have been happier with Kerry's support and the results produced!I highly recommend choosing them as your... representatives!!read more
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07:33 13 Jun 24
Matthew Garling and Team are kind, patient, polite, professional, empathetic and efficient. I was treated terribly by the at fault insurer. Garling and Co. had my back. Matthew gently and patiently... kept me up to speed on all the steps to go through. From my personal experience I recommend these guys. They are safe hands. Thank you team.read more
Jo L.
05:58 07 May 24
So very impressed with the professional team who looked after me throughout the last 4 and 1/2 years. A special mention to Kerry and Nathan who navigated each request to fight for my right to gain... access to further treatments and physio and to ensure medical treatment would be covered moving forward. I was so grateful I could hand it all over to you and not have to go through this very challenging time without your support.I thank you for the compassion you have provided to me, from the first contact with Matthew and Natasha, to finalisation with Kerry and Nathan.I highly recommend the team at Garling and Co for any third party compensation claims. You are in good hands with them all.read more
Linda O.
21:53 06 May 24
Emma, Rebecca and the team at Garling and Co have worked diligently throughout my workers compensation claim. The level of professionalism, support and communication has been faultless. Of particular... note has been the sensitivity displayed to me throughout the lengthy process. Worker’s compensation claims are complex and not easy to navigate, particularly when you are unwell. I do not hesitate to recommend Garling and Co to help you find a way through this otherwise unfathomable system.read more

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