Tsiragakis v Mallet

[2025] VSCA 134

Victorian Court of Appeal

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Negligence
2. › Duty of care
3. › Psychiatric injury
4. › Pure mental harm
5. › Co-worker who witnessed aftermath of suicide attempt
6. › Whether duty of care owed to co-worker arriving at scene 40 minutes after incident
7. › Whether reasonable foreseeability of psychiatric injury established on agreed facts
8. › Whether status as co-worker sufficient to establish duty
9. › Whether presence at aftermath sufficient to establish duty
1. Practice and Procedure
2. › Separate trial of preliminary question
3. › Trial on agreed statement of facts
4. › Whether procedure appropriate for determination of duty of care
5. › Whether party bound by procedure adopted by agreement of legal representatives
6. › County Court Civil Procedure Rules 2018 (Vic), r 47.04
7. › Civil Procedure Act 2010 (Vic), s 7

Quick Take

A co-worker's status as such, without more, does not establish a duty of care to avoid psychiatric injury from witnessing the aftermath of a suicide attempt; the applicant must adduce evidence establishing that it was reasonably foreseeable both that they would attend the scene and that they might suffer psychiatric injury from what they observed there.

Case Details

Citation[2025] VSCA 134

CourtVSCA

JurisdictionVictoria

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Relies on18

2024Steven Moore (a pseudonym) v The KingHCA 30
2024Tsiragakis v JobCo Employment Services & Anor (Ruling)VCC 407
2023GLJ v The Trustees of the Roman Catholic Church for the Diocese of LismoreHCA 32
2019AAI Limited v CaffreyQCA 293
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