Contact: Stephen White and Milton Latta; Carter Newell (Queensland, Australia)
Introduction
In December 2012, Carter Newell published a bulletin about the decision of the Supreme Court of New South Wales in Orcher v Bowcliff Pty Ltd.(1) , which concerned an assault on a hotel patron by an employee of the hotel. That case subsequently went on appeal.
On 23 December 2013, the New South Wales Court of Appeal handed down its decision in QBE v Orcher.(2) The Court of Appeal overturned the primary judge's decision (who found in favour of the plaintiff), finding that neither of the defendants, being the hotel and the security company, had breached their respective duties of care to the plaintiff.
There are two key features of this case. First, the employee who assaulted the plaintiff was not a security guard as is typically the case, he was a glass collector. Secondly, the assault occurred outside the hotel's boundary.
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