Professional Liability - Specialist Areas

Articles

Proposed NSW ‘fitness for purpose’ obligation creates an additional layer of liability for engineers

At a glance The NSW Government has proposed a practice standard for engineers, which includes imposing a new obligation to ensure that designs for professional engineering work are “fit for purpose”. However, the existing regulatory framework for professional engineering work within the Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020 NSW (DBP Act) and Regulation already deals […]

By : Anja Vogel Oct 16, 2023 Comments Off

Case Alerts

Federal Court makes significant Opal Tower liability policy ruling

WSP Structures Pty Ltd v Liberty Mutual Insurance Company t/as Liberty Specialty Markets [2023] FCA 1157 At a glance On 28 September 2023, the Federal Court of Australia found a liability policy covered a sub-contracting engineer and opened up double insurance claims. The case involved claims against WSP, the structural engineer for Sydney’s Opal Tower […]

By : Anja Vogel Oct 11, 2023 Comments Off

Articles

Resource hub: Developments and updates in the building and construction industry

Australia is seeing sweeping state-based legislative reform intended to regain public confidence in the building and construction industry. For example, in NSW, the Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020 will have a significant effect on establishing the liability of design and building practitioners within the construction industry and how they are insured. In contrast, the […]

By : Anja Vogel Apr 29, 2023 Comments Off

Articles

Rise and fall clauses could be another tool to hang on a constructor’s belt

With construction industry participants seeing an increase in costs, rise and fall clauses have been floated as a solution for easing current cost pressures. Essentially, a rise and fall clause in a construction contract shifts key project pricing risks from the contractor to the principal. In this update, W+K’s Construction PI specialists Aaron Bolton, Robert […]

By : Anja Vogel Jun 9, 2022 Comments Off

Articles

Risk profile for construction professionals rises with new Supreme Court decision

Following the recent decision in Goodwin, the Supreme Court of NSW has handed down another decision that considers the scope of the duty arising under the DBPA and to whom it is owed. In Pafburn, the court established the duty is prima facie owed by those who are able to control how the construction work […]

By : Anja Vogel May 31, 2022 Comments Off

Articles

NSW Supreme Court clarifies scope of statutory duty of care for construction industry

On 19 May 2022, the Supreme Court of NSW handed down the first substantive decision on the application of the statutory duty of care introduced by Part 4 of the Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020 (NSW) in June 2020. The effect of this judgment is that, arguably, the statutory duty of care extends to […]

By : Anja Vogel May 23, 2022 Comments Off

Articles

Model guidance for consistent national construction reforms

The ABCB has issued an Implementation Report and model guidance documents that address most of the recommendations contained in the 2018 Building Confidence Report. These developments are the latest in an ongoing effort to address building defects and failures Australia-wide. While significant consumer and industry benefits associated with consistent adoption of the model guidance have […]

By : Anja Vogel May 19, 2022 Comments Off

Articles, Thought Leadership

Construction trends – checking the rear vision mirror while keeping an eye on the road ahead

The past year in the construction industry has been punctuated by a collection of legislative reforms, pandemic responses and technology advances. It’s also been a challenging time in which the industry has been dealing with the continued fallout from market-shaping events, such as the Lacrosse and Grenfell Tower fires, and heightened rates of insolvency. Against […]

By : Anja Vogel Apr 14, 2022 Comments Off

W+K News

Get to know Luke Vincent, new Partner and W+K’s Financial Lines lead in Perth

In our next Q&A with recently promoted partners, we get to know Perth Financial Lines lead Luke Vincent.

By : Anja Vogel Oct 28, 2021 Comments Off

Articles

Legal developments in the building and construction industry

Wotton Kearney Construction PI specialists Nick Lux and Robert Finnigan feature in the October issue of NIBA Insurance Adviser magazine to provide an update on Australia’s building and construction industry reforms, including key regulatory and risk developments affecting the sector and their implications for insurance brokers. This includes sweeping state-based legislative reform intended to regain […]

By : Anja Vogel Oct 10, 2021 Comments Off

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