Kempsey Shire Council v Five Star Medical Centre Pty Ltd [2018] NSWCA 308 In February 2014, a landing aircraft collided with a kangaroo at Kempsey Aerodrome and was damaged. The owners of the aircraft Five Star Medical Centre Pty Ltd sued the owner of the airport Kempsey Shire Council in the District Court of NSW. The […]
Last week the ACT Court of Appeal found in favour of an occupier of a car park in a negligence case: Jennings v George Harcourt Management Pty Ltd [2018] ACTCA 50. The decision is a reminder that the issues of ‘foreseeable risk’ and ‘reasonable response’ must not be conflated when considering whether a party has […]
Last week the NSW Court of Appeal found in favour of a cleaning contractor in Argo Managing Agency Pty Ltd v Al Kammessy [2018] NSWCA 176. The Court reiterated that the duty of care owed by a cleaner is to exercise reasonable care to identify and remove potential hazards, not to guarantee that all hazards […]
On 13 June 2018, the High Court held that loss of future superannuation pension payments may be compensated as loss of earning capacity, but that the loss of future aged pension payments are not. In this update, our Melbourne team of Allison Hunt (Special Counsel), Andrew Seiter (Partner) and Jackson Pannam (Associate) explore the circumstances […]
J v Accident Compensation Corporation [2017] NZCA 441 What Happened New Zealand’s Court of Appeal has recently handed down a decision that may signal a partial retreat of the statutory bar to proceedings arising from medical misadventure. In a case involving a failed sterilisation, remarks made by the Court appear to leave open the possibility […]
Holland v City of Botany Bay Council [2017] NSWSC 1120 What you need to know This Supreme Court judgment will be of interest to state and council road authorities, and their insurers. The decision provides clarification on when a roads authority (as opposed to “the” roads authority) can engage the special non-feasance protection under s45 […]
Ratewave Pty Limited v BJ Illingby [2017] NSWCA 103 Impact The New South Wales Court of Appeal had to consider whether the occupier of the Manly Pacific Hotel (Hotel) had been negligent in failing to safeguard their premises to avoid the risk of injury involving aesthetic or structural components. Even with Justice Fagan’s minority finding […]
Banks and other institutions invest significant amounts of time and capital in building systems, processes and procedures to plan for untoward criminal activity to ensure their staff, customers and the public are safe. Wotton Kearney has recently represented Westpac in a matter in the ACT Court of Appeal Roberts v Westpac Corporation [2016] ACTA 68. […]
Andrew Seiter and Noa Zur discuss the implications of a recent decision by the Victorian Supreme Court of Appeal in Mitchell v Latrobe Regional Hospital [2016] VSCA 342. On 21 December 2016, the Court said the amendments to the Wrongs Act 1958 (Vic) which have retrospectively lowered the thresholds for spinal and psychiatric injuries to […]
The Wrongs Amendment Act 2015 has now passed through the Victorian Parliament and received Royal Assent. The retrospective amendments to the Wrongs Act 1958 remove some restrictions on entitlements to compensation for personal injuries and may substantially increase the entitlements of certain claimants in Victoria. Andrew Seiter (Partner) and Noa Zur (Senior Associate) have updated […]
