The law and the courtsPage 26

• Litigation & law practice

  Solicitor hoisted on own petard: oily rag strategy no excuse after 4.5 year lapse

  No step taken in his client's contract claim for more than four and a half years proved fatal in an application made by a Toowoomba solicitor for leave to proceed under UCPR rule 389. Proceedings commenced in November 2005.

  6 February 2011
• Litigation & law practice

  Taxi cab confession costly: Client’s claim not filed because of poor prospects

  It began in the taxi feeder rank at Brisbane airport in October 2002 when the driver was enjoying a lull and was eating a banana at the time he stepped into a hole in the kerb and injured his right shoulder.

  5 February 2011
• Litigation & law practice

  Frosty medicals smash fortunate worker’s future salary loss funds

  A Supreme Court damages ruling* this month well illustrates how the clock can be stopped on loss of future earnings calculations when residual disability is assessed as "minor".

  30 December 2010
• Litigation & law practice

  Probable improbables: Driller takes on liability share in fall down unsafe Newcrest mine shaft

  A seriously injured mine-worker overcame "improbable" facts "that might have been so obscure that no conclusions could be drawn", to defeat the combined resistance of his employer Downer EDI and mine-owner Newcrest, in a…

  30 December 2010
• Litigation & law practice

  Fall down dusty stairs yields $500,000 for accident prone yacht fitter

  Can occupiers escape liability for defective stairs if a plaintiff merely "loses their footing" ? How much loss of earning capacity applies to someone already significantly impaired?

  23 November 2010
• Litigation & law practice

  ‘Leisurely pace’ of litigation fails to sink tourist’s Whitsunday boat accident claim

  The District Court in Brisbane was asked this month* to absolve a multitude of a statutory and procedural non-compliances relating to a personal injury claim for a U.K.

  21 November 2010
• Litigation & law practice

  Bitter failure for insurer: Allianz doctors crushed in mill worker’s $660,000 win

  CTP insurer Allianz was last week defeated on all points in its Supreme Court denial of diminished working capacity for a 22-year-old sugar mill worker, injured in a motor accident in Ingham in October 2001.

  20 November 2010
• Litigation & law practice

  Hobbit laws apply but NZ removes misleading visitor website info

  The NZ embassy in Canberra has now responded to demands about misleading and deceptive injury compensation statements on its website by agreeing that they be immediately removed.

  29 October 2010
• Legal profession

  NZ visitors cautioned over second class legal system: Kiwi embassy must alter misleading website

  If you or your family are planning a trip to New Zealand, be warned that as you step off the aircraft after landing, you are entering a legal-liability free zone.

  14 October 2010
• Legal profession

  Court allows renewal of claim 13 years after injury: Plaintiff excused in "sorry saga" of "dilatory" solicitors

  Solicitors who failed to lodge a WorkCover notice of claim for damages and apply to renew a claim until 11 years after a farm accident had injured their 21 year-old banana picker client, came under heavy criticism last month from…

  13 October 2010
• Legal profession

  Worst plaintiff ever? Dramatist of his own disaster in demolition of mental disorder damages

  After a five-day hearing in Mackay, the Supreme Court last month handed down judgment for the plaintiff in a liability admitted motor accident claim* – where the plaintiff scored possibly the lowest ever tally on Queensland’s…

  13 October 2010
• Litigation & law practice

  Can we really? Plaintiff can recover the same damages from different defendants?

  A plaintiff can bring separate actions against different defendants arising out of the same incident. This can occur whether or not the causes of action are different. But how are damages assessed in each case?

  24 September 2010

Case notes explain decisions in other people’s cases. They are general information, not legal advice, and every claim turns on its own facts.