Professional Liability - Wotton Kearney

Articles, Case Alerts

Successful ‘declassing’ application in Waller Legal class action: Implications for institutional defendants?

By: Amanda Beattie, Zoe Jones and Nick Salagaras At a glance The Supreme Court of Victoria has granted an application made by a defendant (Waller Legal) for a claim to no longer proceed as a group proceeding. The claim made by the lead plaintiff, Jane Jones (a pseudonym) alleged that Waller Legal breached its duty […]

By : Joshua Weiler Feb 20, 2025 Comments Off

Articles, Case Alerts

Pafburn: High Court ruling reshapes liability for developers and builders under the DBP Act

By: Charu Stevenson, James Clohesy and Chris Knight Pafburn Pty Limited v The Owners – Strata Plan No 84674 [2024] HCA 49 At a glance The High Court ruled that developers and builders cannot rely on proportionate liability defences for breaches of the DBP Act duty of care due to its non-delegable nature. The decision […]

By : Joshua Weiler Dec 12, 2024 Comments Off

Articles

Limitation period for statutory building warranty claims

By: Bill Conor and Julian Amato At a glance The court reaffirmed that claims for building defects made pursuant to the statutory warranties under section 32 of the Building Work Contractors Act 1995 (SA) must be filed within a strict 5-year period from practical completion, emphasising the Act’s balance between builder and homeowner interests. The 10-year […]

By : Joshua Weiler Nov 5, 2024 Comments Off

Articles

Victorian government announces replacement of the Victorian Building Authority

By: Andrew Brennan, Sarah Metcalfe, Nick Lux and Jordan Bova At a glance The Victorian government will abolish and replace the Victorian Building Authority following an independent review that found significant management and cultural failures. A new regulator, the Building & Plumbing Commission, will be created by merging the Victorian Building Authority with other agencies, […]

By : Joshua Weiler Oct 24, 2024 Comments Off

W+K News

2024 W+K APIG Scholarship – Australian applications now open

We’re pleased to continue our partnership with the APIG National Committee to bring you the 2024 W+K APIG Scholarship, supporting the career development of young APIG members practicing in financial lines insurance in Australia. For nine years, the annual scholarship has recognised emerging talent in the financial lines industry and connected the winner with a […]

By : joanna li Aug 1, 2024 Comments Off

Case Alerts

New duty of care: is Pafburn a knockout blow for proportionate liability defences?

By: Charu Stevenson and Hamshini Sathiyamoorthy The Owners – Strata Plan No 84674 v Pafburn Pty Ltd [2023] NSWCA 301 At a glance From June 2020, section 37 of the Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020 (NSW) (DBP Act) introduced a new duty of care on those who carried out “construction work”. This article considers […]

By : Anja Vogel Jan 15, 2024 Comments Off

Articles

New considerations for permanent stays of proceedings in a post-GLJ world

GLJ v The Trustees of the Roman Catholic Church for the Diocese of Lismore [2023] HCA 32 At a glance On 1 November 2023, the High Court of Australia delivered its decision in GLJ v The Trustees of the Roman Catholic Church for the Diocese of Lismore [2023] HCA 32, which we covered here. The […]

By : Anja Vogel Nov 7, 2023 Comments Off

Articles

Get to know Thomas Cavanagh, new partner and financial services specialist

What made you decide to become a lawyer? Other than the usual desire to argue a point with everyone and shows like Boston Legal (aged very poorly, I know), I like the fact that the law is not actually made up of rigid principles but rather can be moulded to suit particular circumstances, and that’s […]

By : Anja Vogel Nov 3, 2023 Comments Off

Case Alerts

High Court appeal provides guidance on the application of law in historic child abuse cases

GLJ v The Trustees of the Roman Catholic Church for the Diocese of Lismore [2023] HCA 32 At a glance The High Court of Australia has today delivered judgment in GLJ v The Trustees of the Roman Catholic Church for the Diocese of Lismore [2023] HCA 32 and, by majority, has allowed an appeal from […]

By : Anja Vogel Nov 1, 2023 Comments Off

Articles

REA’s refreshed complaint process

At a glance On 16 October 2023, the REA will adopt a new process for handling complaints against real estate agents. Under the new process, there will be an earlier opportunity for licensees to make their case to have a complaint dismissed. The REA is also adopting new timeframes for responses to complaints that have […]

By : Anja Vogel Oct 18, 2023 Comments Off

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