High Court of Australia
HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA
GAGELER CJ,
GORDON, EDELMAN, STEWARD, GLEESON, JAGOT AND BEECH‑JONES JJ
PAFBURN PTY LIMITED & ANOR APPELLANTS
AND
THE OWNERS - STRATA PLAN NO 84674 RESPONDENT
Pafburn Pty Limited v The Owners - Strata Plan No 84674
[2024] HCA 49
Date of Hearing: 15 October 2024
Date of Judgment: 11 December 2024
S54/2024
ORDER
Appeal dismissed with costs.
On appeal from the Supreme Court of New South Wales
Representation
N C Hutley SC with G A Sirtes SC and A Di Francesco for the appellants (instructed by M&A Lawyers)
B W Walker SC with D S Weinberger for the respondent (instructed by Grace Lawyers)
Notice: This copy of the Court's Reasons for Judgment is subject to formal revision prior to publication in the Commonwealth Law Reports.
CATCHWORDS
Pafburn Pty Limited v The Owners - Strata Plan No 84674
Tort – Negligence – Concurrent wrongdoers – Proportionate liability – Where owners corporation claimed damages from developer and head building contractor for construction of building – Where claim for economic loss arising from breach of duty imposed on person carrying out construction work by s 37 of Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020 (NSW) ("DBPA") – Where duty to exercise reasonable care to avoid economic loss caused by defects in or related to building arising from construction work – Whether Pt 4 of Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW) can limit liability for damages for breach of s 37 of DBPA.
Words and phrases – "apportionable claim", "building work", "concurrent wrongdoers", "construction work", "direct liability", "duty of care", "non-delegable duty", "personal liability", "proportionate liability", "statutory duty", "vicarious liability".
Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW), ss 5Q, 34, 34A, 35, 39(a).
Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020 (NSW), ss 7(3), 32, 33, 34, 35, 36(1), 37, 38, 39, 40, 41.
We try to embed the page this law was scraped from. If the site blocks framing, you still get the link and a local excerpt.
Last checked with source on —
Checking whether the official page can be embedded…
Plain-English simplify of this law: a short summary, key points, and both sides of the argument. Generated on first view via Replicate, then cached. Vote on what helps your study.
No study brief is cached for this law yet. Sign up to generate a plain-English brief.
Sign up to generate