Courts v Essential Energy (aka Country Energy) [2014] NSWSC 1483

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Courts v Essential Energy (aka Country Energy) [2014] NSWSC 1483 Hearing dates: 7, 8, 9, 10, 13 and 14 October 2014 Decision date: 29 October 2014 Before: Adamson J Decision: 1. Judgment for the plaintiff against the defendants in the sum of $656,542 (the judgment sum). 2. Declare that liability for the judgment sum be apportioned such that the first defendant is liable for two-thirds of the judgment sum and the second defendant is liable for one-third of the judgment sum and determine the cross-claims between them accordingly. 3. Reserve the question of the costs of the proceedings and of the cross-claims and direct that any applications for costs be made in writing to my Associate within seven (7) days hereof, together with an indication whether the relevant party consents to the application being dealt with on the papers, or whether the matter ought be listed for oral argument. Catchwords: TORTS - negligence - joint tortfeasors - plaintiff independent contractor suffered an electric shock after coming into contact with an uninsulated high voltage power line while unloading sheep from a trailer - duty of electricity authority to take reasonable care with respect to construction of power lines to achieve appropriate ground clearance having regard to its design, applicable guidelines and the known and expected use of the land - risk of significant harm from contact with power lines - electricity authority did not construct line in accordance with Guidelines or its own design - duty of occupier of property to take reasonable care not to expose entrant to an unreasonable risk of injury - duty extends to considering the possibility that some entrants may be careless for their own safety - occupier ought to have controlled the plaintiff's selection of location to unload away from the area under the power line -