An ultramarathon race, the Desert Classic, is to be held in outback New South Wales in summer during bushfire season.The Desert Classic race course is 100km on outback roads. The event organisers are a company, Wild Running Adventures Pty Limited (WRA).The company has been organising outback marathons and ultramarathons in Australia and overseas for twenty years.Ten percent of race proceeds are donated to charity each year.

The ultramarathon and marathon governing body, Distance Running International Organisation, has developed guidelines for the monitoring of conditions during race events, which include monitoring natural hazard updates from authorities and live satellite imagery, and having stewards posted along the course reporting back to race organisers before and during the event. During bushfire season, the National Parks and Wildlife Service post live updates of areas which are rated as 'Extreme' or 'Very High' fire danger every 20 minutes to their website, including satellite images and reports about fire risk and any outbreaks of fire.

On the day before the race, WRA is informed that half of the race course stewards have been struck down with food poisoning that has spread through the camp at the race headquarters. WRA decides to just use course stewards on the first and last quarter of the course and leave the middle fifty percent of the course without stewards. The middle part of the course runs through bush with extensive tree cover and is not easily accessible by vehicles. The National Parks and Wildlife Service website advises that morning that the fire danger for the area including the race course is 'Moderate' but after the start of the race upgrades the warning to 'Extreme'. The scale of fire danger includes ratings of Low, Moderate, High, Very High, and Extreme.

The race commences. During the race, the WRA staff members, Irma and Katia, who are supposed to check the National Parks and Wildlife Service website do not do so.Katia has only been working for WRA for a month. Thirty minutes after the race commences a bushfire breaks out in the middle section of the race course. This fire is reported on the website including satellite imagery showing that the fire is burning in the direction of the middle section of the race course and is predicted to arrive at that area of the course within two to four hours.Another hour passes and further updates are posted to the website, showing that the fire is spreading quickly towards the middle of the race course.

After three hours Katia remembers that the website is supposed to have been checked at 20 minute intervals and logs on to check.Katia realises that runners who will now be entering the middle section of the race course are in danger of being overtaken by the fires. Katia issues an alert for all stewards to stop the race and bring the runners back in to the race headquarters. Katia also follows the event protocols and sends two ambulances out, one from each end of the course, to see if anyone requires medical assistance.

Five runners on the course are overtaken by the bushfire. Two of them suffer third degree burns. Three runners are killed. Bhavi is a paramedic who is on standby duty for the Desert Classic ultramarathon.She is working as a 'user pays' paramedic for the event, outside her usual roster, which means she is not working for NSW Ambulance as an employee on the day of the fire but is instead working for WRA as a contractor. Bhavi arrives on scene after the fire has passed through the area. She is the first on scene to assist the injured runners.Bhavi can see and smell the burned bodies of the three dead runners, and also has to provide treatment to Jack, one of the injured runners who is screaming and rolling on the ground with pain because of his burns. Bhavi has seen some disturbing injuries in her career as a paramedic but these are the worst injuries she has ever seen. Bhavi was doing very well at her full time paramedic job before the incident and had been placed on a training course to become a shift supervisor and receive a promotion. She had nearly completed her Master's degree in Paramedicine. After the incident Bhavi has trouble sleeping and feels anxious about going to work and going out in the ambulance. Bhavi's supervisor does a debriefing meeting with her and asks her if she is okay after the critical incident, offering free counselling through a workplace assistance program. Bhavi is worried that she will not have a chance at promotion if she admits she is struggling with her mental health, so she tells her supervisor she is fine. She drops out of her Master's degree program as she is not coping.

Bhavi's husband encourages her to see a private psychiatrist, and she is diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder. She is unable to go out in the ambulance as it causes anxiety attacks, and has to now work part time at a desk as an administrative clerk in the head office of the Ambulance Service. She has no prospect of promotion. Bhavi has 3 year old twins and wanted to have more children, but now thinks her mental health would not be strong enough for that. She does not have the energy to do much of the housework she used to. Before the fire incident Bhavi had an active social life and sang in a choir one night a week and for weekend performances. Bhavi has stopped choir as she is anxious in large groups of people since the fire. She has an income protection insurance policy which covers her for her full previous wage for ten years from the date of her diagnosis with post traumatic stress disorder.

Answer both of the following questions. In your answers, make reference to relevant authority including cases and legislation.

1. Is Wild Running Adventures Pty Limited (WRA) directly and/or vicariously liable in negligence to Bhavi in respect of the harm she has suffered? Answer the question using the headings Duty of Care, Vicarious Liability, Breach of Duty, Damage, Causation and Defences.