Pioneer Construction Material Pty Ltd v Geoffrey Thomas Millsom

[2002] NSWCA 258

NSW Court of Appeal

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Tort Law
2. › Negligence
3. › Employer's liability
4. › Duty of care to employees
5. › Psychological injury
6. › Failure to provide counselling
7. › Whether failure to provide counselling caused or materially contributed to psychological injury
8. › Whether efficacy of counselling is matter of common knowledge
1. Evidence
2. › Sufficiency of evidence
3. › No evidence point
4. › Causation in negligence
5. › Whether rejection of expert evidence provides positive evidence to opposite effect
6. › Whether common knowledge and commonsense can establish causal relationship between omission and injury
1. Appeal
2. › New points on appeal
3. › No evidence point raised for first time on appeal
4. › Whether appellant entitled to raise no evidence point not taken at trial

Quick Take

A plaintiff claiming damages for employer negligence based on failure to provide counselling must adduce affirmative evidence that counselling would have prevented or diminished the psychological injury. The efficacy of counselling in preventing psychological injury is not a matter of common knowledge or commonsense, and the mere existence of counselling services provided by the employer to other employees is insufficient to establish causation. The rejection of the defendant's expert evidence on this issue does not supply positive evidence of causation.