---
title: "Check the New South Wales close-family gateway for pure mental harm"
url: "https://ailawframework.com/practice/personal-injury-and-compensation/check-the-witness-or-close-relationship-gateway-for-pure-mental-harm-fro/new-south-wales"
type: "task_jurisdiction_version"
site: "AI Law Framework"
id: "A21-FM20261023-8-NSW"
practice_area: "Personal Injury & Compensation (workers compensation, CTP/TAC, medical negligence)"
tier: "yellow"
lawyer_review: "required"
jurisdictions: ["NSW"]
last_reviewed: "2026-10-25"
---

# Check the New South Wales close-family gateway for pure mental harm

> In a firm-controlled tool, row presence at the scene and whether the relationship is one listed in section 30(5) of the Civil Liability Act 2002. Leave the gateway finding, and any section 31 illness finding, blank.

Canonical page: https://ailawframework.com/practice/personal-injury-and-compensation/check-the-witness-or-close-relationship-gateway-for-pure-mental-harm-fro/new-south-wales  
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 | In a firm-controlled tool, row presence at the scene and whether the relationship is one listed in section 30(5) of the Civil Liability Act 2002. Leave the gateway finding, and any section 31 illness finding, blank. |
| What the lawyer must review | Decide whether the claimant witnessed the event at the scene or is a close member of the family. Use only the relationships in section 30(5). If more than one spouse or partner qualifies, only the last qualifies. Do not decide section 31 here. It is a separate check. |
| Written for | New South Wales |
| Applies to | [Check the witness or close-relationship gateway for pure mental harm from shock](https://ailawframework.com/practice/personal-injury-and-compensation/check-the-witness-or-close-relationship-gateway-for-pure-mental-harm-fro.md) |

## Checking plan

**New South Wales scene or close family**

The tool rows presence and the section 30(5) list. The lawyer decides the gateway and leaves section 31 aside.

- What the AI does: In a firm-controlled tool, row presence at the scene and whether the relationship is one listed in section 30(5) of the Civil Liability Act 2002. Leave the gateway finding, and any section 31 illness finding, blank.
- 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. Use section 27: mental harm is impairment of a person's mental condition, and pure mental harm is mental harm other than consequential mental harm.
2. Apply the closed family list in section 30(5). Do not add a friend, rescuer or bystander.
3. Row the contributory-negligence reduction in section 30(3) and the bar in section 30(4).
4. Do not cite the repealed nervous-shock Part of the 1944 Act.

## Notes

- Section 27 of the Civil Liability Act 2002 defines mental harm as impairment of a person's mental condition, and pure mental harm as mental harm other than consequential mental harm. Section 30 applies to liability for pure mental harm arising wholly or partly from mental or nervous shock in connection with another person being killed, injured or put in peril. The plaintiff is not entitled to recover unless the plaintiff witnessed, at the scene, the victim being killed, injured or put in peril, or the plaintiff is a close member of the family of the victim. Section 30(5) limits close member of the family to a parent or other person with parental responsibility, the spouse or partner, a child or stepchild or other person for whom the victim has parental responsibility, and a brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister, stepbrother or stepsister. Spouse or partner means the person to whom the victim is legally married, or a de facto partner, and if more than one person qualifies, only the last to qualify. Section 30(3) reduces the damages in the same proportion as any reduction for the victim's contributory negligence. Section 30(4) awards no damages if recovery by or through the victim would be prevented. Part 3 of the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1944 is repealed. The recognised-psychiatric-illness limit in section 31 is a separate check.
- Family, wage and medical records stay in a firm-controlled tool. ASCR r 9 and APP 11 apply. A breach may be notifiable under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).

## Practical guide

Jurisdiction: New South Wales: Civil Liability Act 2002 ss 27 and 30

**Deliverable**: A gateway table using the section 30(5) list, with the finding left blank.

**Inputs**

- Account of the event selected by the lawyer
- Medical material selected by the lawyer
- The opened mental-harm section

**Example**: Illustrative example: A sibling was not at the scene. The tool rows section 30(5), which includes a brother or sister, and leaves the finding blank. It does not decide section 31.

**Stop and escalate when**

- A person outside section 30(5) is marked as close family.
- Section 31 is decided in this table.

Checked 2026-10-23.

## Sources

- [Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW) s 30](https://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/cla2002161/s30.html) (checked 2026-10-23)
- [Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW) s 27](https://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/cla2002161/s27.html) (checked 2026-10-23)

## Forms and precedents for this task

| Form or precedent | Kind | AI level | Summary |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [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.*