Negligence – Duty of care - Illegality - Plaintiff and defendant illegally using stolen motor vehicle in contravention of s 371A of The Criminal Code (WA) ("Code") - Plaintiff twice asked defendant to be let out of vehicle - Requests not complied with - Whether plaintiff can recover damages for injuries sustained as result of defendant's negligent driving of vehicle - Whether defendant owed duty of care to plaintiff - Whether statutory purpose of s 371A of Code incongruous with duty of care between joint illegal users of vehicle - Whether plaintiff's requests sufficient to effect withdrawal from joint illegal enterprise - Whether reasonable steps available to plaintiff to prevent commission of offence.
Words and phrases – "duty of care", "illegal use", "joint illegal enterprise", "statutory purpose".
The Criminal Code (WA) – ss 8, 371A.
Criminal Code Act Compilation Act 1913 (WA) – Appendix B, s 5.
Judgment date
Case number
P25/2010
Before
French CJ, Gummow, Hayne, Heydon, Crennan, Kiefel, Bell JJ
Catchwords