Cullen v NSW [2026] HCA 19
In a paradigm case of physical injury suffered by a plaintiff as a result of
the defendant taking some positive action, the class of persons to whom the
defendant owes a duty of care comprises those persons exposed to a reasonably
foreseeable risk of physical harm from the defendant's action. The existence of a
duty of care in such a case does not depend upon the foreseeability of the precise
manner in which the plaintiff's injuries were sustained: "it is sufficient if it appears
that injury to a class of persons of which [the plaintiff] was one might reasonably
have been foreseen as a consequence".35 Thus, the duty of care in this case is
properly established at a high level of generality,36 leaving consideration of the
relationship between the defendant's conduct and the plaintiff's injuries to breach
of duty, causation and scope of liability.37