The case considered the conditions required for causation to be established in tort law, the limitations of the "but for" test and the significance of an intervening act by a third party in determining causation. School No School; Course Title AA 1; Uploaded By ProfJellyfishMaster734. For faster navigation, this Iframe is preloading the Wikiwand page for, Note: preferences and languages are saved separately in https mode. Additionally, he stated that such rules should be considered as being founded upon policy, and used only to determine the remoteness of damages and not for the purposes of determining causation. The incident arose when March sustained personal injury by driving his car into the back of the truck at a speed of approximately 60 kilometres per hour. March v E & MH Stramare Pty Ltd [1991] HCA 12; (1991) 171 CLR 506. ON THIS DAY in 1991, the High Court of Australia delivered March v Stramare (E & MH) Pty Ltd[1991] HCA 12; (1991) 171 CLR 506; (1991) 9 BCL 215 (24 April 1991). Wyong Shire Council v Shirt (1980) 146 CLR 40; 30. March v E & M H Stramare Pty Ltd (1991) 171 CLR 506 at 530; 99 ALR 423; 65 ALJR 334. March v E & MH Stramare Pty Ltd (1990-1991) 171 CLR 506, cited Onus v Alcoa of Australia Ltd (1981) 149 CLR 27, cited Prestia v Aknar (1996) 40 NSWLR 165, cited Queensland University of Technology v Project Constructions (Aust) Pty Ltd [2002] QCA 224, cited Swain v Hillman (2001) 1 All ER 91, considered The majority consisting of Justice Bollen and Justice Prior (with Justice White dissenting) allowed the appeal, holding that March's injuries were a result of his own negligence which arose entirely out of his intoxicated state. March v E & MH Stramare Pty Ltd - [1991] HCA 12 - March v E & MH Stramare Pty Ltd (24 April 1991) - [1991] HCA 12 (24 April 1991) (Mason C.J., Deane, Toohey, Gaudron and McHugh JJ.) 3165 March v Stramare Pty Ltd 1991 171 CLR 505 2710 33185 Mardorf Peach Co Ltd from LAW CONTRACT at University of New South Wales March v Stramare Pty Ltd (E & MH) Pty Ltd (commonly known as March v Stramare) was a High Court of Australia case decided in 1991 on Australian tort law. 6 At 99 to 115. • Applying the “but for” in medical surgery causes, the courts have concluded, that failing to warn a patient of complications or risk is not a cause of the patient harm: March v E & MH Stramare Pty Ltd (1991) 171 CLR 506. 3 McDermott v Black (1940) 4 McDonald v Denny Lascelles Ltd (1933) 19 McDonald v Denny Lascelles Ltd (1993) 45 McRae v Commonwealth Dispatch Commission (1951) 28 Miller & Associates Insurance Broking v BMW Australia Finance (2010) 65 March's own negligence could not be considered as an intervening act which had dismissed the wrongful actions of Stefanato and Stramare, and subsequently allowed the appeal.[1]. 71116 Remedies Legal remedies authorities General principles Livingston v Railyards Coal Co 1880 5 App Cas 25 Guiding principle of compensation in tort Amaca Pty Ltd (under NSW administered winding up) v Booth(2011) 283 ALR 461; 86 ALJR 172; [2011] HCA 53 at [47] per French CJ. He argued that the inclusion of other rules such as common sense principles would produce an additional layer of inconsistency to decisions. The appellant relied in this Court on these basic general principles.. An employer owes a non-delegable duty of care to its employees to take reasonable care to avoid exposing them to unnecessary risks of injury.. Duty of Care. Stefanato and Stramare had also been found to have contributed to the injuries and damages sustained by March, as he should have been aware of the possibility of an accident of this nature occurring by having the truck parked along the centre line of the street, regardless of the presence of the hazard and parking lights. Summary - complete - Summaries of all key cases UTS Torts Summary Torts Cases Torts Summary UTS Tepko Pty Ltd v The Water Board (2001 ) 206 CLR 1 Exam Notes - Summary Torts. March v E & MH Stramare Pty Ltd (1991) 171 CLR 506 File Number: CD 252 of 2014 . 9 At 263. Stated that the appeal should be allowed as the action of parking a truck on the centre line of a six-lane road did give rise to a duty of care towards all users of said road. The case considered the conditions required for causation to be established in tort law, the limitations of the "but for" test and the significance of an intervening act by a third party in determining causation. [3] However, as stated by former High Court of Australia justice James Edelman, after the decision made inMarch v Stramare, Australian courts changed the way they determined common law causation. 8. Later testing revealed that at the time of the accident March had been speeding and driving under the influence of alcohol, with a blood alcohol level recorded at 0.221%. Instead the court upheld the first instance decision of the trial judge, stating that both parties were responsible for the incident.[2]. 11 March v E & MH Stramare Pty Ltd (1991) 171 CLR 506 at [22]-[27], 12 RTA v Royal (2008) 82 When Justice Digby kindly invited me to speak on causation I had just concluded an article, which was published earlier this year, entitled "Unnecessary causation" (2015) 89 Australian Law Journal 1. He expressed the view that Stefanato and Stramare had broken this duty of care by failing to prevent the reasonably foreseeable accident, and that the cost of March's injuries should be apportioned between both Stefanato/Stramare and March. By contrast, section 5D(1) seemingly did not allow for that approach. 10 At 260. Gostaríamos de exibir a descriçãoaqui, mas o site que você está não nos permite. At the time of the incident the truck had been positioned along the centre line of a six lane road and had both of its hazard lights and parking lights turned on. Mackay v Dick (1881) 6 App Cas 251263. 4 A summary of the findings, on the evidence, is at 92. {{::mainImage.info.license.name || 'Unknown'}}, {{current.info.license.usageTerms || current.info.license.name || current.info.license.detected || 'Unknown'}}, Uploaded by: {{current.info.uploadUser}} on {{current.info.uploadDate | date:'mediumDate'}}. providing three key reasons for this view: Based on these reasons, Justice Deane expressed the view that causation should be determined based on value judgments which took common sense principles into account, and allowed the appeal. Was of the opinion that, although it can be useful in determining legal causation, the but-for test should not be used as the exclusive test as it has the potential to produce results which defy common sense. 8 At 252. Although the but-for test may consider an event to be a necessarily condition for the injury to have been sustained, this may not always equate to the condition being a cause of the said event. However, Justice Deane argued that March had still displayed negligence in driving under the influence of alcohol and consequently, legal responsibility should be apportioned between both parties pursuant to section 27A(3) of the Wrongs Act 1936 (SA). Justice Deane also stated that he did not believe that the but-for test should be the exclusive test for all causation cases, 26. March v Stramare had adopted an approach to causation that was ‘ultimately a matter of common sense’, involving an element of value judgment. On this basis, Justice Toohey stated that the appeal should be allowed and that the judgment of the trial judge should be restored. 5 At 98. The case originated at the Supreme Court of South Australia, heard by a single judge, where March had brought an action against Stefanato and Stramare for the injuries and damages he had sustained as a result of the collision between his car and the back of Stramare's truck. [1], Agreed with the reasoning provided by Chief Justice Mason, stating that but-for test was not the exclusive test for causation as it did possess limitations, especially when an intervening act was involved. March v E & MH Stramare Pty Ltd [1991] HCA 12 at para 15 per McHugh J for a similar list. torts torts. In other words, ‘but for’ the said operation, Mrs Hart would not have had a right vocal cord palsy. Instead, the court favoured a case-by-case basis approach in attributing legal responsibility for causation, which took both common sense principles and public policy concerns into consideration when coming to a decision. For example, in March v E & MH Stramare Pty Ltd,5 the High Court commented on the concept of material contribution in the context of a motor vehicle accident where there were successive negligent acts by different persons: ‘[16] Nonetheless, the law's recognition that concurrent Where the chain of events which occurred during a case had been broken by an intervening act. The majority judgment consisting of Chief Justice Mason, Justices Deane, Toohey and Gaudron (with Justice McHugh dissenting) held that the but-for test should not be the sole test in determining legal causation and instead a common sense approach should be adopted. However, it was held that if the action had occurred due to the negligence or wrongdoing of the original defendant, it would not be considered an intervening act and would be insufficient to break the chain of causation. 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