Zheng v Ianni & Ors (No.3) [2021] NSWDC 521

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Zheng v Ianni & Ors (No.3) [2021] NSWDC 521 Hearing dates: 13, 15-17, 20, 22-24 September 2021 Date of orders: 30 September 2021 Decision date: 30 September 2021 Jurisdiction: Civil Before: Abadee DCJ Decision: See paragraph 286 Catchwords: TORTS – negligence – plaintiff, as a contractor, suffers personal injury after falling through a void from upstairs bathroom on a construction site in April 2018 – claim against builders who contracted with owners to provide construction works – primary builder alleges the owners denied him access to site prior to the plaintiff's accident from December 2017 – son of the builders continues to perform works on construction site after December 2017 – agency – ostensible authority – whether builders held out their son to the Owners as a builder working for the benefit of their business – whether any representation of authority withdrawn after December 2017 – whether duty of inquiry cast on owners about son's capacity – whether builders, as occupiers, owe plaintiff duty of care even after they personally cease works in December 2017 – whether any such of duty of care is non-delegable –vicarious liability – whether builders vicariously liable for negligence by their son Legislation Cited: Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW) ss 5B, 5C, 13, 15 Home Building Act 1989 (NSW) ss 12, 13, 18 Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1946 (NSW) s 5 Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Cth) s 274 Cases Cited: Australian Safeway Stores v Zaluzna (1987) 162 CLR 479 Burnie Port Authority v General Jones Pty Ltd (1994) 179 CLR 520 Colonial Mutual Assurance Society Ltd v Producers & Citizens Co-operative Assurance Co of Australia Ltd (1931) 46 CLR 41 Complete Scaffold Services Pty Ltd v Adelaide Brighton Cement Ltd [2001] SASC 199 Crabtree-Vickers Pty Ltd v Australian Direct Mail Advertising & Addressing Co Pty Ltd (1975) 133 CLR 72 DTR Nominees Pty Ltd v Mona Homes Pty Ltd (1978) 138 CLR 423 East Asia Company v PT Satria Tirtatama Energindo [2019] UKPC 30; [2020] 2 All ER 294 Freeman & Lockyer v Buckhurst Park Properties (Magnal) Ltd [1964] 2 QB 480 James Hardie & Co v Seltsam Pty Ltd (1998) 196 CLR 53 Kirk v Industrial Relations Commission of NSW (2010) 239 CLR 531 Kondis v State Transport Authority (1984) 154 CLR 672 March v Stramare (E & M H) Pty Ltd (1990) 171 CLR 506 Monaghan Surveyors Pty Ltd v Stratford Glen-Avon Pty Ltd [2012] NSWCA 94 Northern Sandblasting Pty Ltd v Harris (1997) 188 CLR 313 Olsson v Dyson (1969) 120 CLR 365 Pacific Carriers Ltd v BNP Paribas (2004) 218 CLR 451 Pioneer Mortgage Services Pty Ltd v Columbus Capital Pty Ltd [2016] FCAFC 78 Price v Spoor [2021] HCA 20; (2021) 95 ALJR 607 Prince Alfred College Inc v ADC (2016) 258 CLR 134 Ryder v Frohlich [2004] NSWCA 472 Rylands v Fletcher (1866) LR 1 Ex 265 Scott v Davis (2000) 204 CLR 333 Simpson Design Associates Pty Ltd v Inspector Ching [2011] NSWIRComm 7 Sweeney v Boylan Nominees Pty Ltd (2006) 226 CLR 161 Taylor v Johnson (1983) 151 CLR 422 The Owners – Strata Plan No. 51077 v Meriton Apartments Pty Ltd [2014] NSWSC 129 Wallace v Kam (2013) 250 CLR 375 Woodland v Essex County Council [2014] AC 537 Zheng v Ianni & Ors [2021] NSWDC 492 Zheng v Ianni & Ors (No.2) [2021] NSWDC 511 Texts Cited: Bowstead & Reynolds on Agency (22nd ed, electronic version, Sweet & Maxwell) Fleming's The Law of Torts (10th ed, electronic version, Thomson Reuters (Professional) Australia Pty Ltd) J D Heydon, Heydon on Contract: The General Part (LexisNexis, 2019) Sir Anthony Mason AC KBE, 'Themes and tensions underlying the law of contract' in G Lindell, The Mason Papers (The Federation Press, 2007) Category: Principal judgment Parties: Buzhong Zheng (plaintiff) Najib Daoud (third defendant) Leila Daoud (fourth defendant) Fred Daoud (fifth defendant) Representation: Counsel: Mr J Phillips SC with Mr L Robison for the plaintiff Ms F Sinclair for the third and fourth defendants No appearance for the fifth defendant