Kozarov v Victoria

[2022] HCA 12
Judgment date
Case number
M36/2021
Before
Kiefel CJ, Gageler, Keane, Gordon, Edelman, Steward, Gleeson JJ
Catchwords

Negligence – Causation – Workplace injury – Psychiatric injury – Where appellant employed in Specialist Sexual Offences Unit of Victorian Office of Public Prosecutions ("OPP") – Where appellant found to have suffered psychiatric injury resulting from vicarious trauma suffered in employment – Whether respondent failed to take reasonable measures in response to evident signs of psychiatric injury – Whether respondent's failure caused exacerbation of psychiatric injury.
Negligence – Duty of care – Content of employer's duty to employee to take reasonable care to avoid psychiatric injury – Where OPP adopted Vicarious Trauma Policy to protect psychiatric health of employees – Whether appellant needed to show evident signs warning of possibility of psychiatric injury – Effect of decision in Koehler v Cerebos (Australia) Ltd (2005) 222 CLR 44. 
Words and phrases – "duty of care", "evident signs", "psychiatric injury", "real review", "safe system of work", "sentinel event", "tort", "vicarious trauma".
 

Files
12.docx (101.82 KB)
12.pdf (350.38 KB)