The Court held that following the High Court's decision in AA [2026] HCA 2 overruling Lepore, a school authority's non-delegable duty of care extends to intentional acts of child sexual abuse by a teacher-delegate, even where the teacher was a religious brother not employed under a contract of service (precluding vicarious liability after Bird v DP). The Court permitted the plaintiff to rely on non-delegable duty despite not expressly pleading it, on the basis that the critical school authority-student relationship was pleaded and the legal avenue had only been foreclosed by the now-overruled Lepore. On the facts, the plaintiff established sexual abuse on approximately six occasions to the Briginshaw standard but failed to establish serious physical abuse, the Court finding the defence of lawful correction was made out for corporal punishment consistent with 1960s school standards. Damages were assessed under CLA Part 2 by operation of s 5Q, with non-economic loss fixed at 23% of a most extreme case ($185,000) after reduction for other contributing causes under the Seltsam v Ghaleb approach, and no award for diminished earning capacity was made as the plaintiff's unfitness for work was attributable to unrelated injuries.
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