---
title: "Test a Victorian pure mental harm claim against the Wrongs Act"
url: "https://ailawframework.com/practice/personal-injury-and-compensation/check-a-pure-mental-harm-claim-for-a-recognised-psychiatric-illness/victoria"
type: "task_jurisdiction_version"
site: "AI Law Framework"
id: "A21-SB20261022-10-VIC"
practice_area: "Personal Injury & Compensation (workers compensation, CTP/TAC, medical negligence)"
tier: "yellow"
lawyer_review: "required"
jurisdictions: ["VIC"]
last_reviewed: "2026-10-25"
---

# Test a Victorian pure mental harm claim against the Wrongs Act

> Extract the diagnosis, the relationship to the victim, and whether the person witnessed the event at the scene, and set those facts against Wrongs Act 1958 sections 72, 73 and 74. Do not decide duty or damages.

Canonical page: https://ailawframework.com/practice/personal-injury-and-compensation/check-a-pure-mental-harm-claim-for-a-recognised-psychiatric-illness/victoria  
Last reviewed: 2026-10-25

Site index for agents: https://ailawframework.com/llms.txt

## Key facts

| Fact | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Practice area | [Personal Injury & Compensation (workers compensation, CTP/TAC, medical negligence)](https://ailawframework.com/practice/personal-injury-and-compensation.md) |
| Human involvement | Yellow: Lawyer and AI draft together |
| How AI is used | Extract the diagnosis, the relationship to the victim, and whether the person witnessed the event at the scene, and set those facts against Wrongs Act 1958 sections 72, 73 and 74. Do not decide duty or damages. |
| What the lawyer must review | Apply sections 72, 73 and 74. Do not use another state's illness bar. Decide whether the harm is pure or consequential, and whether section 73 is met. The tool extracts the diagnosis. It does not decide duty or damages. |
| Written for | Victoria |
| Applies to | [Check a pure mental harm claim for a recognised psychiatric illness](https://ailawframework.com/practice/personal-injury-and-compensation/check-a-pure-mental-harm-claim-for-a-recognised-psychiatric-illness.md) |

## Checking plan

**Verify against sources**

The lawyer applies the Victorian mental-harm sections. A recognised psychiatric illness is part of the foreseeability test, not a standalone damages bar of the New South Wales kind.

- What the AI does: Extract the diagnosis, the relationship to the victim, and whether the person witnessed the event at the scene, and set those facts against Wrongs Act 1958 sections 72, 73 and 74. Do not decide duty or damages.
- What the lawyer does: Make the legal assessment, check the source material and authorise the output for its intended use.
- Who reviews: Lawyer competent in this practice area
- Basis: Checked against the linked sources on 23 October 2026. Confirm the current instrument before reliance.

## Checks the lawyer makes

1. Classify the harm as pure or consequential before any section is applied. Section 74 is the consequential provision.
2. For pure mental harm, section 72 asks whether it was foreseeable that a person of normal fortitude might suffer a recognised psychiatric illness, with the circumstances in subsection (2), and a less-than-normal-fortitude exception in subsection (3).
3. Section 73 limits recovery for pure mental harm from shock: the person must have witnessed the victim being killed, injured or put in danger at the scene, or be or have been in a close relationship. No damages if the victim could not have recovered.
4. Do not treat section 73 as a rule that there is no liability unless the harm consists of a recognised psychiatric illness. That is the test in Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW) section 31, which was opened for contrast.

## Notes

- The AustLII table of the Civil Liability Act 2003 (Qld), marked as at 1 July 2024, was opened. It showed no mental-harm chapter. Section text of a Queensland mental-harm provision was not opened, so do not state that Queensland has none as current law.
- Keep health, wage and scheme records in a firm-controlled tool. ASCR r 9 and APP 11 apply. A breach may be notifiable under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).
- If the product supports a court document, apply the note for that court: Supreme Court Practice Note SC GEN 25 (14 May 2026), the County Court practice note on artificial intelligence by court users (9 June 2026), or the Magistrates' Court guidelines issued 19 October 2026. One tool cannot verify another. Do not put confidential or sensitive information into a public tool.

## Practical guide

Jurisdiction: Victoria: a Wrongs Act claim for pure or consequential mental harm

**Deliverable**: A section-by-section fact map under sections 72, 73 and 74, with the diagnosis and the witness or relationship facts extracted, for the lawyer to decide.

**Inputs**

- Psychiatric diagnosis
- How the harm arose
- Relationship to the person killed, injured or put in danger
- Whether the event was witnessed at the scene

**Example**: Illustrative example: The person was told of a death later and was not at the scene, and is not in a close relationship. The tool marks section 73(2) as not met on those facts. The lawyer decides whether any other pathway is open. The tool does not say there is no claim.

**Stop and escalate when**

- The harm has not been classified as pure or consequential.
- Someone proposes to apply the New South Wales section 31 bar as if it were Victorian.

Checked 2026-10-23.

## Sources

- [Wrongs Act 1958 (Vic) section 72](https://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/consol_act/wa1958111/s72.html) (checked 2026-10-23)
- [Wrongs Act 1958 (Vic) section 73](https://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/consol_act/wa1958111/s73.html) (checked 2026-10-23)
- [Wrongs Act 1958 (Vic) section 74](https://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/consol_act/wa1958111/s74.html) (checked 2026-10-23)
- [Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW) section 31](https://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/cla2002161/s31.html) (checked 2026-10-23)

## Forms and precedents for this task

| Form or precedent | Kind | AI level | Summary |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Letter of instruction to a psychiatrist](https://ailawframework.com/precedents/personal-injury-and-compensation/letter-instructing-psychiatrist.md) | Letter | Yellow | Letter asking a psychiatrist for diagnosis, causation, treatment and capacity in a plaintiff claim, and for a clinical view on recognised psychiatric illness, without asking for the legal test. |
| [Psychiatrist's instructions on a recognised psychiatric illness](https://ailawframework.com/precedents/personal-injury-and-compensation/psychiatrist-recognised-psychiatric-illness.md) | Letter | Yellow | Letter asking a psychiatrist whether there is a recognised psychiatric illness for a mental harm claim, without asking the psychiatrist to apply the statutory tests. |

Signed-in accounts can read the full text of each one.

*Practice guidance for planning and review. Confirm current primary sources and the requirements of the actual matter. This is general information, not legal advice.*