Johnson Tiles Pty Ltd v Esso Australia Pty Ltd +13 ? Explain if a duty of care will be owed to [2003] VSC 27 (Supreme Court of Victoria) those who suffered physical damage to the buildings. Facts Esso had a natural gas plant at Longford in Victoria. Esso was the sole supplier of natural gas to Gascor, which is the sole distributor of gas in Victoria. The gas supply was governed by a series of contracts between Esso and Gascor (the distributor), Gascor and the gas retailers and the gas retailers and the customers. Under these contracts, Esso, Gascor and the retailers all in turn disclaimed any liability for economic loss arising from a failure to supply. The retailers were also protected against claims by customers for failure to supply gas by the provisions of the Gas Industry Act 1994 (Vic). In 1998, there was a huge explosion at the Longford plant which caused Melbourne to be without any gas supply for a number of weeks. The explosion was held to be due to the carelessness of Esso in maintaining its plant. As a result of the lack of gas supply, a number of gas customers (both business and private) and workers claimed they had suffered losses. In respect of losses, the business customers could be divided into two classes: (1) those who suffered physical damage to buildings as well as consequential losses, and (2) those who suffered no physical damage. The latter claimed economic losses, such as loss of profits (arising from an inability to meet demand because production had ceased). The private customer losses included the expenses of buying electrical appliances to