Personal Injury Litigation Article - Public Liability and Insurance
This article comes from the personal injury litigation team at Hatzis Lawyers BrisbaneWith the explosion of litigation in the personal injury field in the past decade, it is important that you have the appropriate insurance cover in place should a person deem you to be negligent for an act in which they suffer a personal injury.
It is astounding how many insurance policies for home contents do not cover you should a visitor be injured upon the premises. Even a fellow occupant of the premises can claim if they are injured by your negligence.
It is therefore important when seeking insurance cover for your property that you determine the extent of the personal protection you have in that policy. Some policies have substantially more cover than others. Two cases illustrate this point clearly.
1) An owner of a unit used for holiday rental had contents cover without public liability insurance. Unfortunately for him he thought that the body corporate cover for the unit block would be sufficient but this policy did not cover him for incidents inside the unit. A guest cut his hand on the ceiling fan and sued the owner of the unit. The owner ended up paying $25,000.00 to the guest.
2) A household had house contents and public liability cover. The son was involved in organised sport, namely football. During the course of the football match the son injured an opposition player. The opposition player sued both the club and the player.
As there was uncertainty as to whether the incident was deliberate or accidental or even a fair tackle, the club's insurer required the player to obtain separate legal representation as there may have been a conflict of interest. The player at all times argued that his particular tackle was within the laws of the game and an accident on the football field.
Fortunately the household cover covered the player for any legal liability he may incur. The insurance company therefore took over the conduct of the litigation for the player saving him many thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees. The only way he would not have been covered was if his act was deemed to have been deliberate and outside the rules of the game.
Accordingly we would recommend that you review your home contents insurance cover to determine whether public liability is involved. As a postscript we would recommend that you review the amount of the cover as the cost of replacement buildings has skyrocketed in the past five years.
If you need any personal injury litigation claim assistance in Brisbane, please email us and we can send out a family law pack to you.
Alternatively, you can call us on (07) 3345 4388 to give us an opportunity to serve you
Hatzis Lawyers are a dynamic firm of Brisbane lawyers and solicitors contributing their might to the smart state of Queensland.