Professional negligence · Queensland
Professional negligence? Here’s how a claim works.
Solicitors, barristers, accountants, financial advisers, conveyancers, agents, engineers and brokers. There is no PIPA notice for these claims, but the six-year clock runs whether or not you know about the loss.
One clock, and it can start before you know
Queensland time limits · no PIPA notice
- Day 0 The advice or the work The advice, the retainer or the transaction that went wrong.
- Date of loss The clock starts Time usually runs from when you suffered the loss, whether or not you knew about it.
- 6 years Court proceedings Within 6 years of the loss. A contract claim runs from the breach, which can be earlier.
- 6 years to start court action
- No-obligation first consultation
- We set out our costs in writing at the start.
Claim types
Professional negligence claims we handle
Claims against seven kinds of professional, their firms and their indemnity insurers.
Searches 7 claim pages
Nothing here matches that. It may still be a claim: call 1300 529 529 and tell us what happened.
- Lawyer & solicitor negligence Missed time limits, negligent advice, failed transactions and bungled litigation.
- Financial adviser negligence Advice from a planner, stockbroker or adviser that fell below a competent standard.
- Accountant negligence Excess tax, ATO penalties and missed concessions from poor advice or audit.
- Real estate agent negligence Negligent price advice, undisclosed defects and poor tenant selection.
- Conveyancing negligence Missed title defects, failed searches, wrong contract advice and settlement errors.
- Architect & engineer negligence Defective design, negligent certification and structural failure.
- Insurance broker negligence Inadequate cover, the wrong insurer or undisclosed terms that left you uninsured.
Our approach
Built for economic-loss claims
There is no injury scale here. Your claim is built from the financial damage the professional caused: the lost transaction, the fall in value, wasted costs and tax exposure. We assess the professional, their firm and their indemnity insurer together from the first conference.
- 01Every head of economic loss assessed from day one
- 02Professional, firm and indemnity insurer assessed together
- 03An independent expert from the same profession
- 04Your limitation date confirmed at the first review
- 05You deal directly with your lawyer
The law
How negligence is proved
Professional negligence claims run in contract and negligence together. Four things have to be proved.
- Duty and retainerDuty The duty is shaped by what the professional was engaged to do.
- Standard of careBreach The standard of a reasonably competent member of that profession. Acting as respected peers widely accept is a defence, unless that opinion is irrational (s 22).
- Advice about riskBreach The peer-opinion defence doesn’t cover warnings or advice about risk. The court decides what should have been said.
- Causation and lossCausation The breach must have caused the loss, including a lost chance, and the loss must be proved.
Compensation
What you can recover
Economic loss only. There is no Injury Scale Value in these claims.
- Lost transaction or opportunity
- The value of the deal or chance you lost.
- Fall in value
- The drop in value of an asset the advice affected.
- Wasted costs
- Money spent that the error made worthless.
- Tax and penalties
- Tax, interest and penalties the advice exposed you to.
- Consequential loss
- Other economic loss flowing from the breach.
Our process
From first call to final settlement
- No obligation Case review What the professional was engaged to do, what went wrong, what it cost you, and your limitation date.
- Records and expert opinion We get the professional’s file, trace the loss and brief an independent expert from the same profession.
- Letter of demand The claim set out to the professional, their firm and their indemnity insurer.
- Within 6 years Settlement or court Proceedings issued before the limitation date, then mediation, and trial if it doesn’t settle.
FAQ
Common questions
Six years from the date of damage under the Limitation of Actions Act 1974 (Qld). The clock runs from when you suffered the loss, not necessarily when the professional made the error. It runs whether or not you know about the loss, and a claim in contract runs from the breach, which can be earlier. Queensland has no extension for economic loss you did not know about. The exceptions are narrow, such as fraud that concealed the claim, where time runs from when you discovered the fraud or reasonably could have. There is no PIPA pre-court notice requirement for professional negligence — the six-year period is the primary deadline.
The standard is that of the reasonably competent member of that profession. Under section 22 of the Civil Liability Act 2003 (Qld), a professional is not negligent if they acted in a way widely accepted by a significant number of respected practitioners as competent practice, unless the court finds that opinion irrational or contrary to legislation. That defence does not cover warnings, advice or information about risk; there, the court decides what should have been said, as the High Court held in Rogers v Whitaker. The scope of the retainer defines what the professional was obliged to do.
Economic loss only: the value of the lost transaction or opportunity, diminution in value of an asset, wasted or thrown-away costs, tax and penalty exposure caused by the advice, and consequential economic loss flowing from the breach. There is no injury scale (ISV) in professional negligence — general damages are not assessed the same way as in personal injury.
The individual professional, their firm or partnership (through vicarious liability), and in some cases their professional indemnity insurer directly. The right defendant mix depends on how the practice is structured. We assess all three tracks from the first conference.
Lost money because of professional advice?
In your first consultation, we’ll confirm your limitation date. There’s no obligation to go ahead.