After Mallonland: Testing for a Duty of Care Against Purely Economic Loss

Presented at the Bar Association of Queensland on 27 March 2025 – Mallonland Pty Ltd v Advanta Seeds Pty Ltd [2024] HCA 25; 98 ALJR 956; 418 ALR 639 signalled the demise of “salient features”, which was adopted as the approach in Australia more than 20 years ago when “proximity” was rejected as the conceptual determinant of a duty of care to avoid pure economic loss for the tort of negligence. Does it suggest other changes in the taxonomy of factors that have been most significant in testing for a duty of care in novel cases in recent years?

In this paper the Honourable David Jackson KC discusses the duty of care against pure economic loss.

After Mallonland: Testing for a Duty of Care Against Purely Economic Loss