Rail Corporation New South Wales v Donald; Staff Innovations Pty Ltd t/as Bamford Family Trust [2018] NSWCA 82

Court of Appeal Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Rail Corporation New South Wales v Donald; Staff Innovations Pty Ltd t/as Bamford Family Trust [2018] NSWCA 82 Hearing dates: 3 and 4 October 2017 Decision date: 24 April 2018 Before: Beazley ACJ at [1]; McColl JA at [233]; Meagher JA at [234] Decision: (1) Appeal dismissed;

(2) The appellant to pay the first respondent's costs of the appeal;

(3) Cross-appeal dismissed;

(4) The second respondent to pay the first respondent's costs of the cross-appeal;

(5) No order as to costs as between the appellant and the second respondent on the appeal or the cross-appeal. Catchwords: TORTS – negligence – work injury – plaintiff/first respondent employed by second respondent labour hire company – first respondent's services hired out to appellant – breach of duty of care – injury sustained due to nature and conditions of employment – whether primary judge erred in drawing certain inferences regarding work undertaken by first respondent – whether primary judge erred in finding that first respondent would not have received adequate rest breaks – whether primary judge erred in finding that risk of harm was not insignificant – whether primary judge erred in finding that appellant and second respondent breached their respective duties of care to first respondent

TORTS – negligence – causation – whether primary judge erred in finding that first respondent sustained internal disc disruption which progressed to a disc protrusion where expert evidence was conflicting – whether primary judge erred in finding that appellant caused first respondent's internal disc disruption