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Wallis Lake oyster contamination

In May 1999 we reported on the outcome of legal action in the Federal Court relating to a major hepatitis A outbreak in 1997. The incident occurred at Wallis Lake on the Central Coast of New South Wales when more than 400 people became ill after eating oysters.

In his initial judgement, Mr Justice Wilcox found negligence proved against the three sets of respondents: the Great Lakes Council, the State of New South Wales and various oyster producers. Justice Wilcox found all respondents equally culpable. "If any one of them had fulfilled its duty to oyster growers, the epidemic would not have occurred", the judge said.

The Full Bench of the Federal Court at an appeal hearing in August upheld its ruling that the State Government and oyster growers were responsible for the hepatitis A outbreak. However, the court ruled that the Great Lakes Council did not break its common law duty of care by allowing the lakes to be contaminated. The Full Bench ruled that it was not 'fair just or reasonable' to impose a duty of care upon the Council.

One hundred and eighty five similar cases related to the same incident are still outstanding.

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Prepared by Keith Richardson and Beverley George
Food Science Australia
PO Box 52, North Ryde 1670. Tel +61 2 9490 8397 Fax +61 2 9490 8499
Email enquiries@csiro.au