One minute you are walking past a food court, a supermarket, an escalator. The next, you are on the floor. A wet patch, a loose tile, a broken step, a stacked display that came down on you. If you have been hurt at a shopping centre in New South Wales, you may have a public liability claim — but only if certain legal elements are made out, and only if you act quickly enough to preserve the evidence. This guide explains when you have a claim, how to prove it, and what compensation you may be able to recover.
The legal basics: duty, breach, causation
A public liability claim in NSW is usually brought under the Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW). To succeed, you generally have to establish:
- Duty of care. The occupier of the premises owed you a duty to take reasonable care for your safety.
- Breach of duty. The occupier failed to do what a reasonable occupier would have done in the circumstances (see section 5B of the Civil Liability Act).
- That failure actually caused the injury, applying the factual and scope-of-liability tests in section 5D.
- The injury has caused compensable loss.
The duty is not absolute. A shopping centre is not required to prevent every possible injury. It is required to take reasonable steps — regular cleaning, adequate warning signs, prompt response to spills, safe walkways.
Typical shopping centre scenarios that lead to claims
Not every injury is a claim. But some common patterns do support public liability claims:
- Slips on wet floors where the spill had been present long enough that a reasonable inspection would have identified it
- Trips on uneven or damaged flooring that the centre knew or ought to have known about
- Falls on poorly maintained stairs or escalators
- Injuries from falling objects in stores with poorly secured displays or stacked goods
- Injuries from broken fixtures — handrails, doors, automatic doors that failed to sense a person
- Injuries in food courts from hot drink spills, contaminated food, or poor chair and table maintenance
- Injuries in car parks from poor lighting, uneven surfaces, or inadequate line of sight
Who is actually responsible?
One complication in shopping centre cases is identifying the correct defendant. Depending on where you fell and what caused the fall, liability may rest with:
- The centre owner or property manager, for common areas such as walkways, escalators, and car parks
- A tenant store, for hazards inside that store’s lease area
- A cleaning contractor, where inadequate cleaning caused the hazard
- A maintenance contractor, where faulty equipment was the cause
- A delivery or logistics contractor, where the hazard arose during a delivery
Sometimes more than one party is involved, and claims may need to be brought against multiple defendants. Identifying who was responsible for what is often half the work of running a public liability claim.
The single most important thing to do immediately
If you are injured, your first priority is medical care. But the second priority is evidence preservation, and the first 24–48 hours are critical. Before you leave the premises:
- Report the injury to centre management or store management. Ask for an incident report number and, if possible, a copy of the incident report.
- Take photos or video. Photograph the hazard, your injury, the surroundings, and any warning signs — or their absence.
- Look for witnesses. Ask for names and phone numbers.
- Note the time. The centre’s cleaning and inspection logs will be referenced by exact time.
- Keep your clothing and shoes in the state they were in at the time, at least until photographed.
If you were in the centre during business hours, there is almost always CCTV. That footage is usually overwritten within days or weeks. A solicitor can send a preservation request promptly — but they can only do that if you contact them before the footage is gone.
The role of “obvious risk” and contributory negligence
Under sections 5F to 5H of the Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW), an obvious risk is one that would have been obvious to a reasonable person in the injured person’s position. If the risk was obvious — say, a large, clearly signed wet floor — the occupier may not owe a duty to warn. But what seems “obvious” on paper is not always obvious in practice. A small spill on a polished floor that looks the same as the floor around it is not an obvious risk to most people.
Contributory negligence is when your own conduct contributed to the injury. Under the Civil Liability Act, contributory negligence does not defeat a claim; it reduces damages proportionately. In most shopping centre cases, contributory negligence is either not established or is modest.
Time limits: why speed matters
Personal injury claims in NSW are generally subject to a three-year limitation period under section 50C of the Limitation Act 1969 (NSW). In practice, the timeline is far shorter than three years. Evidence degrades. CCTV is overwritten. Incident reports are harder to obtain. Witness memories fade. If you wait a year to get advice, you have already lost a meaningful amount of evidence.
What compensation might be available
If liability is established, heads of damages in a NSW public liability claim typically include:
- Medical and treatment expenses — past and future
- Economic loss — past and future loss of income and earning capacity (subject to the statutory cap in section 12 of the Civil Liability Act)
- Non-economic loss — pain and suffering, subject to the section 16 threshold
- Domestic assistance — care and support where the specific thresholds in section 15 are met
- Out-of-pocket expenses — travel, prescriptions, aids, and other reasonable expenses
Common pitfalls
- Not reporting the incident to the centre. If there is no incident report, defending insurers sometimes argue the incident never happened as described.
- Settling with an insurer directly, early. Shopping centre insurers sometimes offer quick, low payouts before the full extent of an injury is known. Once accepted, these are usually final.
- Forgetting the psychological side. Falls — particularly in public — can cause real anxiety, avoidance, and social withdrawal. Those are compensable when supported by evidence.
Practical takeaways
- Seek medical attention immediately and keep every record.
- Report the incident to the centre and get an incident report number.
- Photograph everything — hazard, injury, location, signs.
- Collect witness details before you leave.
- Contact a lawyer early to preserve CCTV and other perishable evidence.
- Do not give a recorded statement to an insurer without advice.
- Be aware of the three-year limitation period, but act well before it.
How Gajic Lawyers helps public liability claimants in NSW
We have acted for people injured in shopping centres, supermarkets, restaurants, hotels, concerts, and public venues across NSW for more than 30 years. We run claims on a No Win No Fee basis. Our technology-driven, fully paperless process means you can run your claim without attending our office, and our in-house interpreter service supports Vietnamese and Arabic speakers across Western Sydney.
If you have been injured at a shopping centre or any public place in NSW, don’t wait for the evidence to disappear. Call (02) 9890 5885 for a free, obligation-free consultation, or visit our public liability claims page to start your claim.
