Reference no: EM132758816

Question - Mr Wilson is a beef farmer, who owns a large parcel of land in Northern New South Wales on which his cattle graze. Mr Wilson's neighbour is Maryanne who is also a beef farmer. Maryanne has approximately 2,200 cattle on her property and runs a successful live meat export business to different parts of South East Asia.

More recently, there has been an outbreak of Infectious Bovine Keratoconjunctivitis (IBK) amongst cattle stationed on a number of properties in North Queensland. IBK is a highly infectious eye disease that can cause blindness to the cattle affected. The disease usually affects older cattle. 

As a precaution, Maryanne's South East Asian customers have told her that exports will cease for a period of 6 months if an outbreak of IBK occurs within 50 kilometres of her property.

Mr Wilson has recently travelled to North Queensland and purchased ten (10) baby calves. One of the calves purchased and now on Mr Wilson's property has been diagnosed with IBK. Maryanne's cattle have not been affected but her South East Asian customers have ceased all cattle imports from her farm for 6 months.

Is there any action Maryanne can take against Mr Wilson? If so, what is it? Explain what is required for her to succeed in the action and outline her prospects of success.