Case: Technical Products Pty Limited v State Government Insurance Office (Queensland) [1989] HCA 24 ; (1989) 167 CLR 45
Outcome: applied
The point was developed by the High Court in Technical Products Pty Limited v State Government Insurance Office (Queensland) [1989] HCA 24 ; (1989) 167 CLR 45 where the phrase "in respect of" was held to require a "discernible and rational link", and that a "material connection" (rather than a mere coincidental or extraneous connection) should exist between the two facts or concepts whose relation is in question. It is, to my mind, inescapable that, whether there is a "rational" link or a "material" connection involves a degree of judgment about the sufficiency of the link or connection for the relevant statutory purpose. 112 In Technical Products [1989] HCA 24 ; 167 CLR 45 , a man fell off a pallet which was supported by a forklift, and sustained injury. He was on the pallet in order to load bags of cheese salt onto a trailer (a "motor vehicle" as relevantly defined). There was no adequate system to prevent him falling seven feet to the ground. The injured man sued his employer, which sought indemnification under a motor vehicle insurance policy taken out for the trailer. Whether or not the employer was entitled to indemnification turned upon whether the employer fell within s 3(1) of the Motor Vehicle Insurance Act 1936 (Qld). Section 3(1) required the owner of a motor vehicle to effect insurance cover against: all sums for which he ... shall become legally liable by way of damages in respect of such motor vehicle for accidental bodily injury ... where such injury is caused by, through, or in connection with such motor vehicle. 113 The majority held that the employer's legal liability was not "in respect of" the motor vehicle. Brennan, Deane and Gaudron JJ concluded at 48 that: The effect of the words "in respect of such motor vehicle" ... [is to] add ... the further requirement that the circumstances giving rise to the relevant legal liability by way of damages for that injury show a discernible and rational link between the liability and the particular vehicle. (Emphasis added.) 114 Their Honours explained at 47-48: The words "in respect of" have a very wide meaning. Indeed, they have a chameleon-like quality in that they commonly reflect the context in which they appear . The nexus between legal liability and motor vehicle which their use introduces in s 3(1) is a broad one which is not susceptible of precise definition. That nexus will not, however, exist unless there be some discernible and rational link between the basis of legal liability and the particular motor vehicle. The point is well made in the judgment of Connolly J (with whom Andrews CJ and Thomas J concurred) in the Full Court of the Supreme Court in the present case: "... it is not sufficient , in order to satisfy the requirement that the person entitled to the benefit of the cover be "legally liable ... in respect of such motor vehicle", that there be no more than a connexion or relation in time or sequence between the motor vehicle and events which in law give rise to the liability. What is required is that there be a relationship between the motor vehicle and the very act or omission which gives rise to that liability ." Thus, the requisite relationship between liability and the particular motor vehicle will ordinarily not exist where the liability is that of a person who is unconnected with that vehicle. The point can be illustrated by example. If, for example, a passenger in a motor vehicle is injured when the driver of the vehicle brakes suddenly to avoid another vehicle whose brakes have failed because of a mechanic's negligence in servicing them, the passenger's injuries can properly be seen as caused "in connection with" each of the two vehicles involved. Any liability of the mechanic in damages for the passenger's injuries would be a liability "in respect of" the second vehicle whose brakes he had negligently serviced. The mechanic's liability could not, however, rationally be seen as a liability "in respect of" the first vehicle with which he had no connexion at all. (Footnotes omitted. Emphasis added.) 115 Their Honours applied their reasoning to the facts as follows (at 49): Even accepting that the trailer and the container are properly to be regarded as one receptacle, the employer's liability cannot, in the circumstances, properly be described as a liability with respect to that receptacle. To the extent that the employer's liability was a liability "in respect of" any vehicle, it was a liability with respect to the unregistered fork-lift. There is nothing in the present case which would justify a conclusion that the trailer and container had any involvement in the employee's accident beyond their passive presence as the receptacle into which the bags were being loaded.