Date: Tue, 30 May 2006 20:30:13 +1000

From: Neil Foster

Subject: High Court of Australia to hear non-delegable duty case

Dear Colleagues;

It is worth noting that the High Court of Australia has just given special leave to appeal (transcript at [2006] HCATrans 244 (19 May 2006)) from the decision of the NSW Court of Appeal in Leichhardt Municipal Council v. Montgomery [2005] NSWCA 432. The NSWCA held that a local Council in carrying out road works through a contractor owed a non-delegable duty of care to members of the public who might be injured by the carelessness of the contractor. Having just read John Murphy's excellent paper on The Juridical Foundations of Non-Delegable Duties I was left wishing that the High Court had access to a copy before making up their mind.

{Incidentally, in a case that has not gone to the HC as far as I am aware, the Victorian Court of Appeal in A D & S M McLean Pty Ltd v Meech & Anor [2005] VSCA 305 (16 December 2005) held that a land-owner who allows the agistment of animals on his property may owe a non-delegable duty of care to road-users who may be injured by the escape of the animals. See para [22] where this is said to be on the basis of Burnie Port Authority.}

Regards
Neil Foster

Neil Foster
Lecturer & LLB Program Convenor
School of Law
Faculty of Business & Law
University of Newcastle
Callaghan NSW 2308
AUSTRALIA
ph 02 4921 7430
fax 02 4921 6931

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