The Beach Club Port Douglas P/L v Page

(2005) 143 LGERA 180; [2005] QCA 475

Queensland Court of Appeal

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For Australian Law.

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Tort Law
2. › Negligence
3. › Duty of care
4. › Pure economic loss
5. › Litigation-caused loss
6. › Whether duty of care owed by litigant to opposing party for negligent conduct of litigation
7. › Whether vulnerability established where statutory appeal rights exist
1. Tort Law
2. › Negligence
3. › Duty of care
4. › Intentional infliction of economic harm
5. › Circumstances where person may lawfully and deliberately cause economic harm to another
6. › Allen v Flood principle
1. Practice and Procedure
2. › Striking out
3. › No reasonable cause of action
4. › Whether action should be dismissed or statement of claim struck out with leave to replead
5. › Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 1999 (Qld), rr 149(1)(b), 171(1)(a), 293
1. Tort Law
2. › Abuse of process
3. › Collateral abuse of process
4. › Whether available as alternative cause of action where negligence claim fails
5. › Requirement of improper motive and improper act

Quick Take

No duty of care in negligence is owed by one litigant to another for the negligent conduct of litigation that causes economic loss. A party's remedy for an unmeritorious appeal or proceeding lies in the procedural rules of the court in which the proceeding is brought (including strike-out applications and costs orders), not in a separate action for breach of duty of care. A developer is not 'vulnerable' in the Woolcock Street sense to loss caused by a statutory appeal against a development permit where procedural remedies are available.