Travel accidents · Overseas travel
An injury overseas is usually decided under the law of the country where it happened, including its time limits. If an Australian business sold you the trip, you may also be able to claim here.
Time limits · Australian and overseas law
Overseas time limits vary by country, and some are as short as 1 year. If that country’s law applies, so does its time limit, even in a Queensland court. A road crash can need a police report and early notice to an insurer.
Which rules apply
Hurt on a trip, package or activity an Australian business sold you.
Booked straight with an overseas hotel, tour or transport company.
As a driver, passenger or pedestrian, in a hire car, taxi, ride-share or bus.
Connections
An overseas injury can involve more than one business. We work out which of them to claim against, and where.
How it happened
Most overseas travel claims start in one of these places.
Pool decks, bathrooms, balconies and stairs.
A crash or fall on a tour, coach or transfer.
As a driver, passenger or pedestrian, in a hire car, taxi or ride-share.
Skydiving, diving, quad bikes and other activities you booked.
Illness that can be traced to a hotel, restaurant or tour.
Check-in
Baggage claim
How damages are assessed depends on which law applies and where the claim is brought.
Now boarding
In order, from the first call to court if it’s needed.
Costs
No win, no fee*
If your claim doesn’t succeed, you pay no professional fees for our work. You may still have to pay outlays, such as report and court fees, if your costs agreement says so. If a court case is lost or withdrawn, or you don’t do better than an offer the other side made, you may have to pay the other side’s legal costs. We explain this in writing before you sign.
You decide whether to go ahead once you know your options and the likely costs.
Fees and outlays are set out in a costs agreement before we start.
Our professional fees are capped at 50% of what you recover, after refunds and outlays. (Legal Profession Act 2007 (Qld) s 347)
Information desk
Sometimes. If an Australian business sold you the trip, package or activity, you may be able to claim against it here. A claim against an overseas business is usually decided under the law of that country, including its time limits.
It depends on the country, and some allow as little as 1 year. A claim against an Australian business generally has 3 years.
Local law and local insurance rules decide who pays, and there are often reporting steps. Get a police report and the other driver’s insurance details.
Travel insurance may pay some costs, such as medical bills or getting home. A claim against whoever was responsible is separate, although your insurer may be entitled to recover what it paid.
Sometimes. Where the claim has to be run there, we can work with local lawyers while you deal with us.
Medical reports, receipts, your booking and who sold it, photos, the police or incident report, and the names of anyone who saw it.
What you can claim after an accident overseas — flights, transfers, tours and hotels each answer to a different set of rules.
What an Australian tour operator owes you when something goes wrong abroad, and when their responsibility extends to a supplier’s failure.
What travel insurance pays for and what it does not, and how an insurance claim sits alongside a claim against whoever caused the injury.
Overseas time limits can be as short as 1 year. Talk to a lawyer now. There’s no obligation to go ahead.
General information only, not legal advice about your situation. No win, no fee*: if the claim doesn’t succeed, you pay no professional fees; whether outlays are payable depends on your costs agreement. If a court case is lost or withdrawn, or you don’t do better than an offer the other side made, you may have to pay the other side’s legal costs.
