Carbone Lawyers has obtained a significant settlement against a major Australian telecommunications provider, which breached its duty of care after disclosing a family’s new, confidential address to an estranged and violent father. Despite being explicitly placed on notice regarding domestic violence risks and instructed to remove the father’s access, the telco failed to update its records. This negligence led to a direct confrontation where the father attempted an assault, resulting in long-term, incapacitating psychological trauma for the client. The case was further complicated by the mysterious disappearance of three critical interaction records from the telco’s database, eventually leading to a successful settlement for the victim.
Key Points:
- Breach of Duty of Care: The claim was successfully framed as a failure to prevent foreseeable harm rather than a mere privacy breach, given the company’s awareness of the safety risks involved.
- Convenient Data Loss: The telco’s defence was severely weakened by the “loss” of three specific interaction records that allegedly contained the mother’s warnings and instructions.
- Lifelong Impact: The disclosure resulted in severe psychological injuries for the young victim, including the inability to work and a years-long state of hyper-vigilance.
- Six-Figure Accountability: Despite a vigorous defence and claims of system migration errors, the telco settled the matter for a significant six-figure sum.
Details of the Case:
The matter originated several years ago when a mother and her young son attempted to flee a domestic violence situation. In an effort to secure their new location, the mother contacted her telephone service provider, a major Australian telecommunications company, to update their account. She explicitly stated that she was not safe around her husband and requested that he be removed from the account to prevent him from accessing their new address. To reinforce the gravity of the situation, she also emailed the service provider, stating she could not speak by phone because her husband was present and she feared for her safety.
Despite these clear warnings, the telecommunications company failed to revoke the father’s “authorised” status. When the father subsequently called the company, a representative provided him with the family’s new residential address. Armed with this information, the father tracked them down and attempted to assault them. While the son managed to escape physical injury, the event left him profoundly traumatised. For years afterwards, he slept with a knife under his bed, eventually reaching the age of 20 without being able to maintain employment due to the severity of his psychological incapacity.
Legal proceedings were initiated years later, as the son was a minor at the time of the incident. The defence argued that the father remained an authorised person on the account and that there was no record of a request to remove him. However, the team at Carbone Lawyers discovered that three specific interaction notes, corresponding to the dates the mother claimed to have given notice, were missing from the telco’s system. The company blamed a “system migration” for the loss, but the legal team argued that an adverse inference should be drawn. The case ultimately turned on the fact that the harm was entirely foreseeable once the company had been put on notice of the domestic violence risks.
Outcome:
The case was vigorously defended, but the combination of the missing evidence and the clear duty of care owed to the son led to a resolution before trial. The matter settled for a six-figure sum. While the settlement could not undo the years of trauma, it provided the client with financial support for his ongoing incapacity and held the major Australian Telco accountable for its failure to protect vulnerable customers.
Please note: Some details of this case have been omitted or altered to protect the privacy of the parties involved.
