Holiday couple stripped of damages payout

A couple who complained of construction noise and staring workers while on holiday at a tropical island have been stripped of almost $5,000 they received in damages.

A New South Wales Supreme Court judge has quashed a decision to award damages to the couple, who sued Flight Centre over a $15,000 South Pacific holiday at Bora Bora in French Polynesia.

The couple was awarded $4,898.66 in the Small Claims Division of the Local Court for "inconvenience, distress and disappointment". But Flight Centre took the matter to the Supreme Court.

Justice Barr said the Louws had suffered "pure mental harm" but there was no liability to pay damages resulting from negligence "unless the harm consisted of a recognised psychiatric illness".

To keep up to date on the latest Australian judgments try TimeBase's Case Law.

What are your thoughts about the case? Read full article?