Parkes Shire Council v South West Helicopters Pty Limited [2019] HCA 14

HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA

KIEFEL CJ, BELL, KEANE, GORDON AND EDELMAN JJ

PARKES SHIRE COUNCIL APPELLANT

AND

SOUTH WEST HELICOPTERS PTY LIMITED RESPONDENT

Parkes Shire Council v South West Helicopters Pty Limited [2019] HCA 14 8 May 2019 S140/2018

ORDER

1. Appeal dismissed.

2. The appellant pay the respondent's costs of and incidental to the appeal.

On appeal from the Supreme Court of New South Wales

Representation

N J Williams SC with P K Williams for the appellant (instructed by Moray & Agnew)

J T Gleeson SC with T J Brennan for the respondent (instructed by Norton White)

Notice: This copy of the Court's Reasons for Judgment is subject to formal revision prior to publication in the Commonwealth Law Reports.

CATCHWORDS

Parkes Shire Council v South West Helicopters Pty Limited

Aviation – Carriage of passengers by air – Accident – Carrier's liability – Where respondent engaged by appellant to carry out survey using helicopter – Where passenger aboard helicopter killed in crash – Where Pt IV of Civil Aviation (Carriers' Liability) Act 1959 (Cth) applied – Where s 28 provided that carrier liable for damage sustained by reason of death of passenger – Where s 35(2) substituted liability under s 28 for any civil liability of carrier under any other law in respect of death of passenger – Where s 34 imposes time limit on availability of right of action created by s 28 – Where widow, daughter and son of passenger brought claims in tort against appellant and respondent for damages for negligently inflicted psychiatric harm resulting from death of passenger – Where claims brought outside time limit prescribed by s 34 – Whether claims precluded by Act.

Words and phrases – "any civil liability of the carrier under any other law", "by reason of the death of the passenger", "claim", "damage sustained", "Hague Protocol", "in respect of the death of the passenger", "Montreal Protocol No 4", "negligently inflicted psychiatric harm", "tort", "Warsaw Convention".