Gary (00:00):
… live this afternoon. And there’s legal investigation into Queensland’s insurers and their motor vehicle practices has now been launched. Carter Capner Law has announced an investigation into Suncorp, Allianz, and other compulsory third party insurers who have allegedly encouraged injury victims to settle claims directly without legal or specialized medical advice, and it may have resulted in lower settlements than the people may have been entitled to. And the law firm is now launching a class action. Director of Carter Capner Law, Peter Carter, joins me now. I mean, Peter, why are you taking this action? Are you fighting for a bit more fair? Is that the plan?

Peter Carter (00:43):
G’day, Gary. Yes, that’s exactly right. We think there are a lot of people being hardly done by as a result of being enticed to settle directly with the insurer rather than the conventional way, which requires working up the case, finding out how the injury will affect them going into the future, and getting legal advice on what their real entitlements are.

Gary (01:06):
Peter, I’ll make an allegation here, that there’s a lot of people trying to game the system. They go to somebody and they say, “I’ve been injured, so what’s the value of the go away money?” In other words, “Settle with me quickly. I’ll go away.” But that is actually in itself a claim that, while it might save the insurers a bit of money is costing all of us who buy the insurance because the risks have gone up because there’s more claims going in. So there’s a two-edged sword to this.

Peter Carter (01:34):
Well, look, claims that aren’t legitimate shouldn’t be paid, but everyone has [inaudible 00:01:41].

Gary (01:41):
But they come up with this go away money approach. That’s what I’m saying. They settle it quickly to get people to just go away.

Peter Carter (01:47):
Well, those ones won’t ever do any better, but we’re looking at people who have more serious injuries and who are enticed to settle for a low sum. And there’s plenty of evidence of that occurring. We have people come into our own practice where that’s occurred, often, for example, $5,000 and end up with $35,000. So that’s the sort of practice that we’re concerned about, and we’re not here to champion the people who have no injury and are given go away money.

Gary (02:19):
Yeah, fair enough. Okay, so let’s dive back further into this sort of thing. What are you alleging these insurers may have done?

Peter Carter (02:28):
Well, remember that claims managers represent the interests of the insurer of the at-fault driver who has maimed or otherwise injured an innocent road user. So they have a different interest to uphold than that of the injured person. But the injured person is often led to believe that they’re acting in their own interest. That’s because the insurer also offers rehabilitation along the way and does a very good job at that, I must say, in most cases. So they’re put into a position, the injury victim’s put in a position of thinking, well, look, they’re doing the best for me. But that’s not the case. That’s exactly not the case. Claims managers are there to minimize the payout and look after the interests of the insurer who employs them.

Gary (03:23):
And Peter, is it fair to say some people don’t even put in a claim? They think, “Oh, look, it’s an accident. I’ll just leave it alone and not even try.” I mean, they themselves are potentially missing out on compensation for an injury that may rear itself years later. There might be a consequence they didn’t even anticipate. They should be getting checked out.

Peter Carter (03:43):
Well, that’s what I always say to people who come to me. Yes, you don’t know until you’ve got medical advice on the consequences of an injury. But that’s not what we’re concerned about here. We are concerned about the people that haven’t been done right by the insurers.

Gary (03:58):
Okay, so the issue with people taking early settlements is they are actually helping the insurers, not helping themselves?

Peter Carter (04:07):
Well, that’s right, because medical specialists say that they can’t assess permanent impairment, and that’s what compensation is paid for, until about 12 months down the track. Some people might have financial needs, so they are enticed to settle early, but if they don’t know what the proper course is, what the usual course is about investigation of injury to assess the right amount, the fair amount of compensation, is they just don’t know and they will tumble into this situation.

Gary (04:45):
Okay. So you’ve announced this investigation into these compulsory third party insurers. I mean, how many people do you anticipate have been affected by this? I guess you don’t really know. Are you looking for the numbers or you know the numbers?

Peter Carter (04:58):
There’s about 1,800 people who last year settled direct, I think that’s the number, with insurers. And that’s growing every year because insurers have worked out that it’s saving them a hell of a lot of money. Sorry, correction, 1,300 in 2024. That’s growing very rapidly and insurers are altering their business practices to attract this. They’re in it for the financial gain for their shareholders. We’re in it to try and get fair compensation for the injury victims who’ve been injured through no fault of their own.

Gary (05:45):
Okay. So how can people join this class action, Peter?

Peter Carter (05:45):
Well, they can register their interest. If they’ve settled direct with a Queensland CTP insurer against the CTP insurer for the at-fault driver who caused their injury, they can go to ctpinsurerclassaction.com.au and provide their details. We will get in touch with them and work out the extent of their underpayment. This is all good for the class action going ahead and bringing the insurers to account, but more importantly, to get them to change their practices.

Gary (06:24):
Yeah. Okay. But I mean, meanwhile, they’ll just simply increase the fees that we’re all paying in insurance, won’t they? If there’s more payouts coming, they’ll just up the premiums.

Peter Carter (06:33):
Well, the point is though, this is an increasing and escalating situation. Well, they want people to become more used to the fact that they can be low-balled on their settlements. I don’t see that as increasing the cost of insurance.

Gary (06:52):
Fair comment. That’s a fair comment. I think that’s what I meant by go away money. But either way, wish you well with that. Keep us posted, Peter. Good to talk to you. Peter Carter from Carter Capner Law class action against the CTP insurers. It’s going to be interesting to see where that all leads. 133882 at four to 5:00.

Speaker 3 (07:10):
In traffic? Take…