Public Place Accidents

Claims can include many types of incidents or occurrences that do not fit within other injury claim categories including those relating to slip and fall accidents, assaults in clubs/pubs, accidents at rental properties and dog bite cases to name a few.

Any person who has suffered injury in situations referred to above or in another situation should ensure that early legal advice is obtained to ensure any right to claim damages is protected.

You should seek Gouldson Legal's advice as to your rights and entitlements as quickly as possible.

How do I claim?

A Part 1 notice of claim must be served on the person at fault (the respondent) within 9 months of the incident. If the injury is not immediately apparent, 9 months from the first appearance of symptoms or 1 month after first instructing a law firm to act on your behalf, whichever date occurs first. If a notice is not provided within this time a reasonable excuse for the delay is required to be provided with the notice.

Once the notice is served the respondent has 1 month to confirm that they are or are not a proper respondent. If they consider themselves a proper respondent they also need to confirm within that time whether or not the notice is a compliant notice.

A second notice called a Part 2 notice is to be served within 2 months of receiving the compliance response. This notice sets out in much more detail the nature of your loss.

The respondent must give a written notice within 6 months of receiving a complying Part 1 notice of claim, stating whether liability is admitted or denied and if contributory negligence (any suggestion that you the injured person has contributed to causing the injury) is claimed, the degree of the contributory negligence expressed as a percentage.

Medical evidence needs to be obtained at approximately 12 months post injury date so that we can determine if the injuries are going to leave you with permanent impairment.

What happens if my injury occurs while I am working but not on work premises?

You have an entitlement to lodge a workers compensation claim for wages and medical expenses, as well as claim damages as discussed above.

An example where this would arise is if you are employed by a labour hire company and placed to undertake work at a host employer, and sustain injury. In these circumstances liability may be apportioned between both the labour hire company as your employer and the host employer.

In this situation both the PIPA and the WorkCover (Workers’ Compensation & Rehabilitation Act 2003 (WCRA)) legislation applies. This means that procedures under both Acts will need to be complied with.

Restrictions on claims

The Civil Liability Act 2003 (CLA) has application to public place accident claims and may exclude a respondent from liability in certain circumstances. For example a person will not be held to be negligent for an injury resulting from an obvious risk of a dangerous recreational activity. There are also restrictions on liability of road authorities and if a claimant is intoxicated at the time of the accident, there is a presumption of contributory negligence of at least 25%.

What can I claim?

After all evidence is gathered an assessment of your damages entitlements needs to be undertaken. In this process we categorise loss into different heads of damages:-

1. pain & suffering;
2. out of pocket expenses;
3. past loss of wages;
4. gratuitous assistance provided;
5. future out of pocket expenses;
6. future loss of earning capacity;
7. future gratuitous care required.

The CLA also affects how damages for public liability claims are calculated. For example, any gratuitous care and assistance given to you as a result of your injury, needs to be for at least 6 hours per week for 6 months before it can be claimed. Damages for pain and suffering are regulated by a table of injuries with set injury scale values for specific categories of injury.

The aim of compensation claims is to compensate an injured person for the loss sustained as a result of the negligent conduct of another.

For this reason it is important to keep records of all expenses and details of time spent by others assisting you, and also to keep a diary detailing situations or changes in circumstances.

The amount you are entitled to claim in these cases is also regulated by legislation (the Civil Liability Act 2003 (CLA)).

My damages have been assessed, what next?

Firstly we will make an offer of settlement and try to negotiate informally.

If a settlement cannot be reached informally, a compulsory conference is to be held between all parties. Either party may call for a compulsory conference.

The compulsory conference provides an opportunity for the parties to meet with a view to resolving the claim. You have a very good chance of settling your claim at the conference and thereby avoid having to then lodge a claim in the Courts.

If you cannot settle at conference, each party must exchange mandatory offers. If neither you or the respondent accept each others offer, Court proceedings must be started within 60 days.