NSW Can you sue family for emotional damages/distress?

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odettewalker

Member
16 April 2020
2
0
1
New South Wales
BACKGROUND:

My husband and I were living interstate with our son. I fell pregnant with our second child and our OB was in NSW (same OB as our son). We announced the news – (in-laws) asked us to come and move in with them as we have no family or support interstate apart from my son’s Daycare. They said we can stay with them and everything will be good have help etc.

My husband and I decided that it would be good to be around our friends again during my maternity leave. So I took half pay for my maternity leave, handed in notice for our rental, lost our daycare spot and moved 250km and waiting for the arrival of our second baby (I did have some complications i.e. pre-term labour from 20 weeks, bed rest, hospital admission etc.)

During this time; inlaws were complaining about the garage being full with our items – so we sold our microwave, fridge, threw out 45% of our household items etc. to keep them happy.

It wasn’t until November 2019 – they advised my husband that they were selling the house and we needed to leave by April 2020. This caused a big dispute with my husband and his parents. If he knew this was there plan, we wouldn’t off moved 250km and lost our place where we were happy, daycare spot, my position at work I cant get back until then etc.

My husband is doing his PhD – so his not working as I am the primary breadwinner and now he has to rush and bring forward his deadline from October to literally now in order to quickly finish because he thought he had more time

Inlaws then promised that they wouldn’t list the house on the market until we leave in September/October 2020, they would not have anyone coming through the house and they will wait.

In February 2020 – they went against that – contacted an agent and have been holding numerous inspections etc.

This has caused us a lot of stress because of their aggression, our son isn’t allowed outside in the backyard, he can only play in a 1.5 by 1.5 room, we have had to add him and our daughter into Daycare to protect them from all the fights, intimidation, aggression, people coming in and out of the house.

This has added unwarranted financial, physical and emotional stress on us. It has caused significant turmoil within our marriage but also a big strain to protect our kids from this.

Now due to COVID-19 – we are all trying to self-isolate, my work is now virtual and I cannot go back as I made this decision based on having all the information at the time.

Stages:
  • We have tried to talk to them but they continue to lie
  • We have asked the eldest brother to mediate but nothing resulted apart from the brother agreeing what they have done to us being wrong
  • They have literally said they don’t care what they are doing to us
  • We can’t go and rent somewhere because I am only half pay and we can’t afford this as we didn’t budget for this expense.
Question:
  • Do we have a case to sue for emotional damages/distress caused by this?
 

Atticus

Well-Known Member
6 February 2019
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294
2,394
Do we have a case to sue for emotional damages/distress caused by this?
Nothing in law says you can't sue.... do you have a 'case' (not the same as do you have reason)

A few thoughts ..... You can't just take such a case to court based solely on your word .... you will need to first prove & then put some $ value to the damages.. So that means seeing a psychologist (each family member) having an expert report done & possibly have that expert witness appear in court, so right there before your'e even in court, BIG dollars, probably add to that the cost of a lawyer...

Then there is the other side of the story, & how much evidence they can produce to rebut or mitigate any of those damages... So for example they may say that you were in fact fully aware of their intentions at the start.... that your dysfunctional relationship/s added to your distress etc etc... you've already admitted here that you argued a lot

Then if you lose, you may be up for their legal costs...