Safwat Beshara v Australian Postal Corporation; Australian Postal Corporation v Swan Services Pty Ltd; Swan Services Pty Ltd v The Underwriter Insurance Company Pty Ltd; Australian Postal Corporation v The Underwriter Insurance Company Pty Ltd (No 2) [2008] NSWDC 72

New South Wales District Court

CITATION: Safwat Beshara v Australian Postal Corporation; Australian Postal Corporation v Swan Services Pty Ltd; Swan Services Pty Ltd v The Underwriter Insurance Company Pty Ltd; Australian Postal Corporation v The Underwriter Insurance Company Pty Ltd (No 2) [2008] NSWDC 72

HEARING DATE(S): 7 -16 April 2008 EX TEMPORE JUDGMENT DATE : 16 April 2008

JURISDICTION: Civil

JUDGMENT OF: Goldring DCJ

DECISION: 1. Verdict for the defendant. 2. Dismiss the cross-claims.

CATCHWORDS: NEGLIGENCE - Occupier

LEGISLATION CITED: Workers Compensation Act 1987

CASES CITED: Jones v Dunkel (1959) 101 CLR 298

Safwat Beshara (Plaintiff) PARTIES: Australian Postal Corporation (Defendant/Cross Claimant) Swan Services Pty Ltd (Cross Defendant/Cross Claimant) The Underwriter Insurance Company Pty Ltd (Cross Defendant)

FILE NUMBER(S): 4885 of 2003

E G Romaniuk (Plaintiff) COUNSEL: T McKenzie (Defendant/Cross Claimant) D T Miller with M Castle (Cross Defendant/Cross Claimant) R A Cavanagh (Cross Defendant)

Keddies (Plaintiff) SOLICITORS: Graham Jones Lawyers (Defendant/Cross Claimant) Moray & Agnew (Cross Defendant/Cross Claimant) DLA Phillips Fox (Cross Defendant)

JUDGMENT

1 HIS HONOUR: The plaintiff, Safwat Beshara, brought this action against the defendant as occupier of a mechanical workshop at Granville, where he was employed as a cleaner in the first few months of 2002. On 29 April that year the plaintiff fell down some steel steps leading to an inspection pit under the floor level of the workshop while he was taking a polishing machine down the stairs. He slipped or lost his footing. The mishap has been described in both ways, but I have reached the conclusion that there is no real distinction between the words used, as the incident was the same and it was a slip or a loss of footing.