Dear Colleagues;

There was an interesting fact situation in AUSTIN -v- THE ELECTRICITY NETWORKS CORPORATION [2014] WASCA 89 (29 April 2014) http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/au/cases/wa/WASCA/2014/89.html . The plaintiff had received a severe electrocution injury while attempting to steal wire from a power line belonging to the defendant power company. His action in negligence and under occupier’s liability legislation (it did seem that the power ought not to have been left on in this particular wire because the quarry where it was had been closed down for some years) failed because a specific statute in WA, the Offenders (Legal Action) Act 2000 (WA) provided that no claim could be brought in tort where "the injury or loss was suffered in the course of criminal conduct by the offender”. There were some exceptions but none relevant here. Other “tort reform” Acts around Australian contain similar though not identical provision- eg Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW) s 54. Presumably there might also be some room for the common law defence of ex turpi causa to apply, though that was not discussed here.

Regards

Neil