Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) – Queensland Personal Injury Law
Here is some common question we, as personal injury solicitors Brisbane, answer every day. Clients should consider these questions to ensure they receive a fair and equitable settlement for any personal injury claims.
This is one of the most popular questions that our clients have when they are considering filing personal injury law claim. Is it worthwhile to bring a claim?
The amount of compensation that you are entitled for your injuries under Queensland Personal Injury Law will greatly depend on the extent of your injuries and their impact on your employment, lifestyle, and everyday living. Your injury compensation claim will depend on the following:
- If your injuries affect your daily activities. For instance, if you can’t take care of yourself or you can’t perform your usual activities caused by your injuries.
- If your injuries caused ongoing symptoms that restrict your functions such as pain, altered sensation, or spasm.
- If your injuries affect your recreational or social activities you used to enjoy before sustaining the injuries. For instance, you can no longer go fishing, or enjoy walking because you suffer pain.
- If your injuries affect in some way with your performing your duties at work
- If you need ongoing medications or treatment for your injuries. For instance, you have to take anti-inflammatories or pain medication, or your doctor recommends surgery to ease out pain or infection.
- If you need medical support such as ergonomic devices or if you need to make changes in your home so you can move around.
- If you are younger, it means you have to endure the injuries, so you will be entitled for more compensation.
- If you are healthy before sustaining the injuries. If you can prove that you were fit and healthy, you will be entitled with higher compensation compared to a person who previously had medical problems.
Contributory negligence refers to the action of the injured party alleged to have contributed for the injury to happen. Let’s say Andrew crossed the road and was hit by a car, but he failed to watch out if there are rushing vehicles. If he, as an injured party, file a motor vehicle accident claim against Simon (the car driver), the latter may claim that the former just stepped out in the front of the car and it was impossible to avoid the accident. Simon would be claiming that Andrew’s actions contributed to the accident happening or the injured party has contributory negligence.
But still, Andrew can pursue a personal injury claim. Take note that a contributory negligence claim is often expressed in percentages. A contributory negligence claim could be made at 100 per cent by the defendant, which means that they are arguing that the injured party’s accident were caused by the injured party’s own actions. This is also known as voluntary assumption of risk or volenti.
For example, if we look at the situation where Andrew is alleged to step out in front of Simon’s car, the defendant may claim that the fault completely rests with Andrew, so there is a claim of 100% contributory negligence. Whether the claim will prosper or not will depend on the circumstances of the road accident. Even in cases where there appears to be great risk taking on the plaintiff’s part, there could still be factors leading to successful pursuit of personal injury claim.
As in our example case, just because Andrew stepped out into the road without being careful, does not mean that there is no chance to pursue a claim to be compensated for the injuries he sustained. It might be that Simon had enough time to see Andrew when he was walking, but he was also not careful enough to stop his car or maneuver to avoid the accident.
Moreover, if Simon had been careful and attentive, then he might have stopped the vehicle to lessen the injuries sustained by Andrew. In this case, under Queensland Personal Injury Law the Queensland Court, may determine the percentage of responsibility for the accident between the parties. For example, the Court may rule that they both contributed to the accident happening, and may apportion negligence against Andrew for 50%, while Simon may be ordered to compensate Andrew for the injuries but at a lower amount.
Yes you can. You are entitled for a worker’s compensation if you sustain any form of injury while doing your work. You can claim your compensation against your employer’s compensation insurance provider, which is usually WorkCover in Queensland.
Included in your workers compensation claim are your reimbursements or funding of required medical treatment, rehabilitation and devices you need for recuperation, as well as full wage for the days you were not able to go to work.
Your compensation claim will only stop if your doctor recommends your employer or WorkCover that you don’t need any further treatment for your injuries.
Near the end of your claim, WorkCover will evaluate your injuries to check if you have permanent impairment. Based on provisions in the Queensland personal injury law, If your impairment is higher than 0%, you might be provided with a lump sum compensation, which are often quite minimal and don’t cover all the damage or loss that you have likely sustain because of your injuries.
For example, Mike is a factory worker who was assaulted at work by another worker and sustained leg injury. If Mike was evaluated to have sustained 4% degree of permanent impairment if his overall functioning because of the leg injury, then the lump sum offer that the insurance provider will be around $10,000 to $12,000. This does not provide any form of assistance to Mike if he can no longer do his work because of his leg injury. The only way he could receive proper compensation is to pursue a Common Law claim for the injuries he sustained during the assault.
Under Queensland Personal Injury Law, the answer is yes. If you are involved in a vehicular accident – in a motorcycle, car, or a truck – if it happened in the course of doing your work, or on your way to or from work, then you can pursue workers compensation claim relevant to the injuries you have sustained.
Even if a worker sustained injuries from a vehicular accident during break time, as long as he or she was not doing a risky behavior at the time of the accident, there is a valid claim for workers compensation. It will be difficult to pursue such claim if the worker decides to drag race with a fellow worker outside of the workplace during break time.
If you have suffered an injury in a vehicular accident whilst at work, you may also entitled to bring a road accident claim as well. Any money that is paid by WorkCover will need to be refunded by the CTP insurer.
Meanwhile, you can pursue a journey claim if you suffer injury in a car accident on the way to or from your work.
There are several circumstances where a compensation claim relative to the sustained injuries in a journey claim might be rejected. For example, there might be a significant delay or deviation in the worker’s journey.
For instance, Kristina deviates from her usual course directly to go home to pick up dry cleaning at a store. After leaving the laundry house, she was involved in a vehicular accident. The claim might be rejected because of the deviation to fulfil a personal errand.
And even if Kristina doesn’t have to deviate from her usual route to go home, but she just stops at the laundry store, the delay involved in her finishing the journey could be considered as an indicator that she did not directly went home after work. The insurance provider may raise this as a reason for rejecting Kristina’s workers’ compensation claim.
So the insurance provider in Queensland, usually WorkCover, will evaluate the circumstances of the accident – where and when it happened – to know if the claim is valid.
Settlement negotiations refer to pre-court stage where the parties may try to reach a resolution without litigation. The negotiations could take place between legal representatives upon the instructions of their respective clients. Although you will need to attend in person to the formal settlement negotiations, your legal representatives will make all the submissions and representations for you. This is the stage where the plaintiff could offer a settlement amount to the injured party to avoid trial.
Personal injury claims in Queensland are regulated by State legislation. The objective of settlement negotiations is to encourage the parties to reach settlement and for the injured party to receive compensation fast without the need to proceed to a trial or litigation, which is costly and time-consuming for all stakeholders.
If you can’t identify the vehicle at fault for the accident, your claim will be made against the Nominal Defendant who serves as the CTP insurer of the unidentified vehicle. This is pursuant to the Motor Accident Insurance Act of 1994 QLD.
The Nominal Defendant is a government entity, which has been organised particularly for this purpose – to assess and compensate claims by motor vehicle accident victims where the driver or vehicle at fault was not able to be identified.
If you are unable to identify the vehicle at fault, then you should serve a Notice of Claim form to the Nominal Defendant within three months of the accident. Failure to serve the notice in the prescribed period should be accompanied by a valid reason. If the Court cannot consider the reason to be valid, then you cannot pursue any claim.
Moreover, the Notice of Accident Claim form served to the Nominal Defendant should be compliant with all the requirement provided under the Motor Accident Insurance Act of 1994 within nine months of the accident happening. Failure to serve this notice within the prescribed time period will lead to your claims forfeited altogether.
The government is quite strict in this matter as they also need to conduct investigations to identify the offending party. Investigations often involve exploring CCTV footages that might have captured the accident to identify the vehicle or to track down possible witnesses to the accident. It will help the government to do its job if you file the notice earlier.
Hence under Queensland Personal Injury Law you should file your claim as soon as possible. If you have been injured in a motor vehicle accident, call us at Taylors Solicitors immediately to talk about your case. This is to ensure that you will not lose your rights to pursue claims and damages for the injuries you have sustained.
Yes, you can still pursue a motor accident claim for the injuries you have sustained even if your vehicle was unregistered or you don’t have QLD driver’s licence as long as you were not at fault for the accident happening. You can still file a claim against the driver of the car at fault, and this is also true vene if you have contributed negligence. Read FAQ No. 2 for more information about contributory negligence.
If you have been injured in a vehicular accident – car, motorcycle, truck – or other types of vehicles, as a pedestrian or a cyclist, you need to contact a lawyer whose expertise is in Queensland Personal Injury Law.Even if your injuries are considered minor, you still have to pursue a claim as many cases of minor injuries turned into serious problems later in life.
If you are not able to fulfill your regular work duties because of your injury after ending your worker’s compensation, your employer may end your job contract on the grounds that you are no longer fit for the job.
But in this case, you can claim for the loss of income caused by being unable to work caused by your injuries, including any loss sustained in trying to find a new job or unable to do so because of your condition. Basically, based on Queensland personal injury law in QLD, the more your injuries affect your ability to work, the higher the compensation you are entitled to for your personal injury claim.
We have noticed that many workers who sustained injuries at work are worried of filing personal injury claims, because of the misconception that this will put their employment at risk. We don’t recommend such action.
If a person sustained injuries that interfere with your capacity to do your work, then you may likely suffer a loss of employability and earning capacity. Most injuries, even minors ones, often damage your bodily functions over time, which interferes your work capacity and the kind of work duties you can perform. This further limits your job prospects. Moreover, you may pass on better job opportunities because of your condition.
This is why we encourage workers who sustained any form of injury in the course of their work to file personal injury claims to protect not only their employability but also the future of their families.
Taylors Solicitors is a boutique litigation personal injury law firm based in Brisbane, Australia. Since 1987, our experienced solicitors earned outstanding reputation in providing exceptional services throughout all of Queensland.
✔ Get personal service for you or your loved one, with the same solicitor handling the claim from beginning to end
✔ Work with expert and experienced solicitors who know your right and entitlements so you can focus on recovery and rehabilitation
✔ Boutique personal injury law firm providing aggressive representation against insurance companies in QLD
✔ Unchanged No Win No Fee Guarantee for over 30 years
Taylors rejects the factory law firm model and instead commits to providing personal service to all clients. OurQueensland personal injury lawyershave been practising in Brisbane for decades and we have learned that every case is unique so it requires tailored-fit legal solutions. We have a dedicated team that will handle your case.
We can help you in seek legal remedies for the following legal services:
- Personal Injury Claims
- Work Accident Claims
- Motor Accident Claims
- Disability / Workcover Claims
It can be really overwhelming, devastating, and stressful to suffer a personal injury, especially if it resulted to income loss or capacity to earn. We focus our legal services to motor vehicle accidents, work related injuries, and other personal injury claims to provide exceptional help for you. With Taylors Solicitors, you will have a peace of mind with the knowledge that you have an expert working and fighting by your side.
With our team of personal injury lawyers, your case will be fairly negotiated with the primary objective of getting you just entitlements to at least lessen the pain you have suffered.
We have applied the same terms to No Win No Fee for over 30 years, including
- It applies to every personal injury case we act in;
- We pay for all disbursements in building your case including expert reports such as medical assessments;
- You do not pay a cent out of your own pocket, with our costs and your disbursements being recovered from any compensation you receive at the conclusion of your matter;
- If you receive a smaller compensation award, we reduce our fees to give you more in your hand.
If you want to learn more about our No Win No Fee basis, please call on (07) 3229 1266 and talk to one of our lawyers who specialize in personal injury law. You can also send email enquiries to inbox@taylors.net.au