NSW Personal Injury - Can I Sue for Mental Stress and Depression?

[blacknite]

Hi guys ,

In last few years, my partner and I had to face a lot of issues because of unwanted involvement of a 3rd person. That person has always been friendly with us but in last 2-3 years' time, he became too much involved in our personal family matters. He spied on my wife, her phone and tried his best to convince me that she has something with another guy.

Because I knew him, I never thought he would making these things up. I tolerated all this, thinking he may have noticed something that was bothering him and I just let him continue (my mistake), thinking one day he would stop on his own, Maybe he misunderstood something and I thought he is concerned about me and family.

But that guy continued his mind games with me, eventually leading to me and wife fighting all the time. Then after 2-3 years, I banned him. Now he is not allowed into my house / family, etc., but my wife still thinks what he did was harmless and she still talks to him on and off.

Now everything he did, including spying on my wife, her phone, telling me things about her that never happened, telling things to my wife that led me into a deep depression last year, I was unable to stop my brain from thinking about what he did and why he did it (btw, he never answered why he did).

Finally, I thought I needed help and went to my GP. He put me on anti depressants ASAP ( I have been on them for 6 months now), I also met a psychiatrist a few times last year. After 2 months of gap, I am again feeling very depressed as I just cannot stop myself from thinking of the things he said, did and why he did them.

I am wondering is there any legal help can I get such as Personal Injury. Can I actually sue him for mental stress issues, etc? What legal framework talks about this issue?

PS: I am originally from Melbourne but working in Sydney at the moment, since New Year.

Thanks!

 

[Sophea]

Dear blacknite,

While mental issues can constitute an actionable personal injury, in order to prove liability for that injury, you need to prove that the person you want to blame owed you a duty of care and that they breached that duty.

There are several recognised categories of duty of care such as ...doctors to patients, drivers to passengers of a vehicle, etc. Courts will also recognise duties of care in other areas dependent on the circumstances, however generally friend to friend or family member to family member - no duty of care is owed. Therefore, unless this person has committed a criminal act such as stalking or something, I don't believe you would have grounds to sue him.

 

[blacknite]

Dear blacknite,

While mental issues can constitute an actionable personal injury, in order to prove liability for that injury, you need to prove that the person you want to blame owed you a duty of care and that they breached that duty.

There are several recognised categories of duty of care such as ...doctors to patients, drivers to passengers of a vehicle, etc. Courts will also recognise duties of care in other areas dependent on the circumstances, however generally friend to friend or family member to family member - no duty of care is owed. Therefore, unless this person has committed a criminal act such as stalking or something, I don't believe you would have grounds to sue him.

Thanks, Sophea, got the point.

What about phone spying? I can prove that he did spy on wife's phone?

 

[Sophea]

How did he do that? By hacking into accounts online? Or by installing some sort of device on her phone? There are laws against using any type of intercepting device on a telephone.

 

[blacknite]

I found a spy app in her phone. When I approached the spy app company, they confirmed that her phone number was tracked via their app.

 

[Sophea]

You can certainly ensure that he is dealt with by the law. I would take the evidence you have that a spy app was installed on your wife's phone to the police and speak with them about it. The NSW Surveillance Devices Act 2007 states: "A person must not possess a record of a private conversation ... knowing that it has been obtained, directly or indirectly, by the use of a listening device, optical surveillance device or tracking device." Collecting data using a spy app is only legal where the target parties know they are being tracked or that their conversations are being recorded. In all other cases, using spy aps is illegal.

 

[blacknite]

You can certainly ensure that he is dealt with by the law. I would take the evidence you have that a spy app was installed on your wife's phone to the police and speak with them about it. The NSW Surveillance Devices Act 2007 states: "A person must not possess a record of a private conversation ... knowing that it has been obtained, directly or indirectly, by the use of a listening device, optical surveillance device or tracking device." Collecting data using a spy app is only legal where the target parties know they are being tracked or that their conversations are being recorded. In all other cases, using spy aps is illegal.

Thanks Sophea, will do very soon. Shall I be doing this in NSW ( as I am here now) or back in Melbourne (where my family still resides and where the incident happened)?

 

[blacknite]

Also , just realised that that guy turned out to one step ahead of me. He has already logged a complaint against me that I did some hacking related things to his computer & used his identity to call his ISP and got him disconnected, which obviously is not true at all, I feel like thrashing him.

Got a call from local Melbourne coppers telling all this as a courtesy this arvo. I fear he might have hacked into my PC as well, used my IP to do these and other things that he is blaming on me.

PS: This happened to me earlier as well when back in Sept somebody remotely hacked my and bought computers and iPad in London, Paypal after investigating for 3-4 weeks refunded all my money and accepted this happened.

Any suggestions on how to tackle this new development will be most appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Rod]

Take your PC in to a repair place and say you want it checked for malware and that you need a report on the results.

It is possible to get box that sits between your devices and your modem that will log all incoming and outgoing traffic. Depends on how much time, effort and money you want to spend.

 

[blacknite]

You can certainly ensure that he is dealt with by the law. I would take the evidence you have that a spy app was installed on your wife's phone to the police and speak with them about it. The NSW Surveillance Devices Act 2007 states: "A person must not possess a record of a private conversation ... knowing that it has been obtained, directly or indirectly, by the use of a listening device, optical surveillance device or tracking device." Collecting data using a spy app is only legal where the target parties know they are being tracked or that their conversations are being recorded. In all other cases, using spy aps is illegal.

Coming back after months, but would like to get a clear idea where and how I should lodge this phone spying complaint. Shall I do it at my local NSW police station or shall I do it in VIC, where that guy lives or do I need a lawyer for this?

Also this incident is now around 2 years old. Can I still lodge a complaint?

Thanks