Public Liability Insurance News

Sun, 19 August 2007
MBF To List On ASX
MBF Australia said it intends to demutualise and list on the Australian stock exchange in an attempt to grow and diversify its business. The health insurer said its plans have been endorsed by the MBF Council. It said a share market listing is likely in calendar 2008. The board believes that demutualising is in the best interests of policyholders, that it will maximise MBF's future growth potential and enhance its ability to compete in a rapidly changing environment," chairman John Conde said.

Mon, 24 September 2007
Insurers and state accused of cover-up
Two years after the Government outlawed claims by people who suffer less than 5 per cent permanent physical or 10 per cent permanent mental injury, promised premium cuts have yet to be proven. Victims' advocacy group People's Rights said monitoring of premium costs had not been delivered as promised. "Neither the Government nor the insurers want proper research or monitoring of the insurance industry," said group spokesman Christian Leavesley. "They know it will reveal that cuts to rights were unnecessary and any reductions in premiums will be token compared to the hundreds of per cent they increased during the 'crisis'." Source: Herald Sun

Mon, 15 October 2007
Liability of flawed law reform
FIVE years ago, David Ipp proved he was no ambulance chaser. At the height of the insurance crisis, the NSW Court of Appeal judge drew up an instruction manual for state governments on how to end the litigation explosion. It became the bible of tort reform and led to restrictions on personal injury claims that have slashed the amount of litigation around the nation. Plaintiff lawyers, who lost millions of dollars in potential income, still seethe. Ipp's credentials on this issue are impeccable. And that is why this judge has just become the worst nightmare for state governments. Ipp has aligned himself with those who have been arguing all along that tort reform had gone too far. To lawyers, this is the equivalent of St Peter denouncing the Catholic Church for excessive zeal. If the architect of these changes says they went too far, it gives credence to those who have questioned whether Australia gave away too much in order to solve an insurance crisis of the time. Ipp's intervention has highlighted the fact that the price of solving that crisis goes beyond the realignment of the civil justice system. It has also handed governments the power to strike out a category of litigation that could expose their incompetence. Source: The Australian.

Mon, 15 October 2007
Public liability insurance premiums fall
The cost of running a school fete looks set to drop with public liability insurance premiums falling sharply for a second year in a row. Assistant federal Treasurer Peter Dutton says strong competition and government reforms have increased affordability of public liability and professional indemnity insurance and "is good news for the community". The latest National Claims and Policies Database (NCPD) report shows public liability insurance premiums fell on average by nine per cent in the 12 months to December 31, 2006, and professional indemnity insurance premiums fell on average by 8.7 per cent over the same period. The findings in the NCPD report, prepared by Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, followed significant reductions in 2005, when public liability and professional indemnity premiums fell on average by 12.9 and 6.7 per cent respectively, Mr Dutton said. Source: The Age.

Mon, 12 November 2007
Ombudsman forces jail search change
Western Australian (WA) Ombudsman Chris Field has released his 2007 annual report. It shows that the sector of government that generated the largest number of complaints was corrective services, with actions by prison guards such as strip searches, and the health services at the correctional facilities major areas of concern. Field also said he was continuing to push for local government councils to make some compensation available to victims of flawed administrative procedures. Public liability was a significant topic among the complaints about local government bodies. Source: The West Australian

Mon, 07 January 2008
How to Protect Your Personal Assets
There are several options when it comes to protecting your small business from losing everything to liabilities and lawsuits. Establishing a corporation or a limited liability company is a good idea for any business that has potential liability. It is particularly important if you are working at your clients' offices or sending your employees out to client sites, where they theoretically have access to proprietary information. "You want to put a firewall between your business activities and liabilities and your personal assets," says Bill Feldhaus, associate professor at the Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University. You may also want to talk to an insurance broker about purchasing business liability insurance, which will cover your business costs if you are sued. "You do run considerable risk that something you've done could harm your client inadvertently. You could accidentally do something that permits a hacker to get into a client's system, or that leaves proprietary information open to competitors," Feldhaus says. There are some relatively new technology errors-and-omissions policies that are specifically designed for people who do IT consulting. You may be able to purchase one that provides up to $1 million in liability coverage for between $2,000 to $5,000 annually, Feldhaus says. Source: BusinessWeek

Mon, 07 January 2008
Players exposed to great risks
FOR Gavin Sibley it was supposed to be just another match. The 37-year-old was still playing A-grade rugby league for East Campbelltown when he attempted to tackle an oncoming player, slipped and fell, hitting his head on his opponent's hip. That was the last game of rugby league Sibley ever played. The last time he walked. Sibley was diagnosed as a complete and permanent C5 tetraplegia (quadriplegia). Unable to care for himself or his immediate family, including his daughter, Sibley moved in with his parents to a modified house, where he has lived ever since. That was four years ago. Sibley received the maximum payout eligible under the NSW Sporting Injuries Insurance Act of 1978 of $171,000, established by the NSW Government. The scheme provides player accident and injury insurance cover for both amateur and professional sportspeople and is open to all sporting organisations operating within NSW that elect to join. The NSW Government is the only one in Australia to have this kind of insurance, which allows individuals who receive a permanent disability and other injuries to claim compensation. Sibley received the maximum benefit, which is not much when you consider he is unable to work for the rest of his life and has continuous medical bills. "I have basically been left to fend for myself," Sibley said. "Private health insurance covered the first year of medical expenses but I am, and will be, buying medication for the rest of my life.

Mon, 21 January 2008
Entangled by Law, Boy Stays In Hospital That Failed Him
Justin Bates, 11, lives in a room with a pretty mural of a shipwreck on a wall outside his window, but he cannot see it, and the silence is broken only by soft radio music he can barely hear. He arches his back when upset, and relaxes when caressed, but he cannot talk or walk, or breathe and take nourishment without tubes in his neck and stomach. Since Justin was 16 months old he has been in what doctors call a "vegetative state." It was in January 1985 when his mother rushed him, wheezing and listless, to the Broward General Medical Center here. He was suffering from asthma, the mother was told by the hospital, but by the next day mistakes by staff members had left Justin with severe brain damage. Ten years later, his mother, Cynthia Mendat, wants him home but says she cannot afford to pay for the care he would need, despite having won a $6.2 million jury award in 1990. The hospital has fought payment under a Florida law that limits liability against a state agency to $200,000. And the hospital, which admitted negligence, has placed a $1.5 million lien on a $2.4 million settlement that four doctors made with her, saying she owes that amount for Justin's care while her lawsuit was pending. So, Justin remains at the hospital. "For the last 10 years I've come to visit him in the place that destroyed his life," Mrs. Mendat, 30, said recently. Justin's case is an example of how laws that protect taxpayers by shielding public entities from frivolous litigation or huge liability awards can sometimes work against the neediest of victims. Florida's "sovereign immunity" law is based on the common law that government cannot do wrong. But Florida and most other states have either waived immunity to allow lawsuits against agencies or limited damages. Broward General cited the effect on other patients of paying the full award. The North Broward Hospital District, with 1,567 beds, bills about $1 billion annually. The district has a reserve of $13 million for public liability and medical malpractice claims. It has paid about $1 million in legal fees and costs on Justin's case, a spokesman said. Source: The New York Times

Mon, 21 January 2008
Govt willing to say 'sorry' in apology
The federal government will use the word sorry when apologising to the stolen generation. Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin has told The Bulletin magazine she is confident a flood of compensation claims will not follow the apology to indigenous Australians. "The main reason for that if you look at experience over the last 10 years, the states and the territory have all apologised and you don't see a rush of claims against them," she said. "There's evidence to demonstrate that giving an apology does not lead to liability." Ms Macklin said no one had taken the option of a class action against the government since the children were taken. Source: The Age

Mon, 21 January 2008
Fire Island Dunes And Ownership
The article ''State Revives Plan to Control Building in Fire Island Dune Area'' [Nov. 9] emphasizes the controversy over the coastal erosion hazard line, but obscures the fact that the real conflict involves ownership of ocean-front property. In simplistic terms, properties north of the coastal erosion hazard line on Fire Island are managed at the discretion of the property owner, while management of properties south of the line is constrained by state and Federal regulations designed to limit public liability under the National Flood Insurance Program. If the coastal erosion hazard line is established using the proposed Army Corps of Engineers artificial dune as the primary dune line, anyone who can produce a deed will be able to lay claim to land created at public expense and develop it without regard to the public liability that results. Source: The New York Times

Mon, 28 April 2008
Parents to pay child's medical bills if injured at school
PARENTS will be responsible for their child's medical bills if they are injured at school despite the Bligh Government's plan for an extra 30 minutes of physical activity for students each day this year. The Government's edict – dubbed Smart Moves – covers all state primary and secondary schools in Queensland and is aimed at boosting awareness of the link between physical activity and academic achievement. Classroom teachers will have to make sure children in their charge perform physical activities of "moderate intensity" for at least 30 minutes a day. They are allowed to break up the activity into two 15-minute sessions or three 10-minute sessions but the policy must be incorporated into the timetables of Queensland's 250,000 state primary school students. The move – the centrepiece of Education Minister Rod Welford's so-called Year of Physical Activity – has thrown the spotlight on limits to the Government's insurance policy. A high-level group advising the Government on Smart Moves has warned that parents should be better informed of Education Queensland's insurance arrangements in relation to students injuring themselves during school sport or physical activity programs. The Ministerial Review Committee for School Sport and Physical Activity also urged the department to undertake an audit of sporting facilities available to schools. Education Queensland has public liability cover for all approved school activities but does not provide accident insurance. Personal accident insurance remains the responsibility of parents and the Government will only provide compensation for students injured at school when the department's negligence is to blame. Source: Courier Mail

Mon, 28 April 2008
Go-slow payouts add pain to grief
FOR Trad Thornton, the loss of his loved one was only the beginning of his anguish. Since his partner was killed in a 2005 plane crash at Lockhart River on Cape York, he and other family members of the 13 passengers on the flight have been so frustrated at the go-slow tactics of insurer QBE that he is threatening to picket the company's Sydney headquarters. Senior Constable Thornton was due to marry the woman he adored, colleague Constable Sally Urquhart, in September 2005. But four months before the wedding she lost her life when the Transair plane crashed into a mountain on the approach to Lockhart airstrip, Australia's worst air crash in 40 years. The couple had lived together for three years, serving on various Aboriginal communities in Cape York, including Aurukun and Bamaga. Constable Thornton has found it impossible to achieve closure, having first to live through the coronial inquest that found pilot error was to blame for the crash and now the alleged protracted game-playing by the insurer he accuses of trying to "delay and minimise" compensation payments to the families of the victims. Asked yesterday by The Australian to explain its failure after three years to settle with claimants including Constable Thornton, a QBE spokesman replied that the company had no comment to make. Constable Thornton, with 10 years' service behind him, is now a member of the elite Public Safety Response Team, the unit that is mobilised when emergencies requiring police presence occur anywhere in Queensland. He said his lawyer explained that QBE had public liability cover for passengers to a maximum of $500,000, but in Urquhart's case had offered him only $97,000. Urquhart was killed on duty, so a Work Cover (worker's compensation) payment of $153,000 was made to her fiance, but under Queensland legislation that will have to be paid back if another insurer also pays for her death. Source: The Australian

Mon, 08 September 2008
Groundswell with sands of time
LIVING up to its name, Swell Sculpture has grown remarkably. Beginning with only 13 sculptures six years ago, at this year's event which opens next week, 50 works will grace Currumbin Beach. The outdoor exhibition, a highlight on the Gold Coast's cultural calendar, could easily have remained a dream but for the initial determination and hard work of two women. Founding director Natasha Edwards loved looking at art, but found it difficult to take her young children into galleries. "One day I was walking into an art gallery with a double-pusher and I felt I was being stared at," she says. "I thought what was lacking on the Gold Coast was an outdoor art gallery." She had struck up a friendship with Kylie Mitchell-Smith, who had recently arrived from Sydney and the two of them would frequently chat in the park while their children played together. "We were two like-minded people and between us we had four boys under the age of four. Kylie worked in PR and events. We had a certain combination of skills, and we both had a yearning to get back in the workforce in a way that wasn't going to compromise our family life," Edwards says. Edwards had grown up surrounded by art; her father was an artist and art educator. "But I ended up getting more into business and accounting, purely because that seemed the financially sensible way to go at the time. By not making it my job, I was able to keep art as my passion. I was always working for architects and graphic designers, doing financial management," she says. The pair realised there was nothing in southeast Queensland that offered outdoor art along the lines of Sydney's Sculpture by the Sea. "We both said that Currumbin was the best place for it. We also felt we were giving back to the community in a way that would enrich the lifestyle of our children," Edwards says. As the beach is the most significant element of Gold Coast culture, to hold the event there was entirely appropriate. "It's great to feel the sand between your toes as you look at beautiful artwork. And you don't have to dress up to do it. There is no pretension," she says. They realised they would need considerable assistance to make their vision a reality. "We formed a committee and set ourselves up as a not-for-profit organisation, and then we knocked on a lot of doors," Edwards says. "Many people said this would never happen on the Gold Coast. There were concerns about the security of the work, public liability and the cost of insurance, which was very high." But slowly the tide began to turn. "People began to realise we weren't just building sandcastles," she says.

Mon, 08 September 2008
More cash slated for victims of crime
PRISONERS who sue the system will find it harder to keep their spoils under the nation's toughest laws - designed to give their victims a fairer share. The move has been sparked by outrageous cases including a paedophile who avoided giving his victims any of a $175,000 compensation payout after he was bashed in jail. Nineteen NSW prison inmates won public liability payouts since April 2005 totalling $7.025 million, records obtained by The Daily Telegraph under Freedom of Information laws show. They included damages for collapsing during muster, being hit by a cupboard, and a fight in a cell which led to two inmates getting payouts. Source:News.com.au

Tue, 07 October 2008
Public liability boost for SA sports clubs
Sports and recreational clubs will be offered greater protection from public liability claims under a South Australian Government proposal. It says the current system is too complex and expensive. SA Consumer Affairs Minister Gail Gago says clubs will be able to get people to sign a waiver, excluding the club from liability except in cases of gross negligence. She says it will make it easier for clubs to be covered for public liability. "That's essential for sporting and recreational clubs to have that cover otherwise they're not protected as operators and quite clearly the mums and dads and kids who use their facilities aren't covered either," she said. The Recreational Services Act started operating in 2003 to help reduce insurance costs for recreational clubs and would be replaced by the revision the Government has proposed. Source: ABC News

Tue, 07 October 2008
Horse riding establishments see public liability insurance costs fall
The cost of public liability insurance for riding schools has been a growing problem in recent years. However, some court rulings have put a stop to the quickly rising costs and some schools are now even seeing a decrease in price of their insurance. Initially, public liability insurance costs rose because of an increasing number of high value compensation claims made by people injured while horse riding at schools. Some equestrian schools saw the price spiral out of control, leaving them unable to afford the cover. Hundreds of school owners across the UK have been forced to hang up their riding hats and close their businesses as a result. Fortunately, several important cases have gone through the courts and been found in favour of horse riding establishments. These rulings have prompted public liability insurers to offer much more reasonable premiums. A spokesperson for South Essex Insurance Brokers confirmed: "Premiums have stabilised now and in some cases have gone down a bit. Source: Dogwood London

Tue, 07 October 2008
What is a Public Liability Claim?
If you have an accident or suffer a personal injury whilst on public property, which was not your fault, then you may be entitled to make a personal injury compensation claim. The person or company owning or being responsible for maintaining the public area should have taken out a public liability insurance policy to compensate members of the public for any injury they sustain whilst on the property caused by their negligence; therefore your personal injury claim for compensation will be made against that insurance policy. If your accident occurred on public property during the course of your employment you may have a claim against your employer depending on the circumstances. Source: Thompsons Solicitors

Tue, 07 October 2008
Vic: Bracks concerned over public liability plan
By Trevor Chappell. MELBOURNE, Jan 21 AAP - Victorian Premier Steve Bracks said today he was concerned with abolishing people's right to sue if they were injured in an accident. Asked if he had a concern in principle over removing common law rights, Mr Bracks told reporters: "I think there is a problem with that course of action." Mr Bracks's comments came after federal Small Business Minister Joe Hockey said the high cost of public liability insurance was unsustainable and should be replaced by a national accident compensation scheme. Source: HighBeam Research

Mon, 13 October 2008
Sandown shift to Seymour riles trainers
MELBOURNE Racing Club is resisting pressure from the Australian Trainers' Association to hold Sandown's transferred meeting at Caulfield. Angry ATA chief executive John Alducci said it was outrageous that such an important springboard meeting - last year Weekend Hussler and star filly Zarita won on the Sunday Sandown program - be "shunted" to Seymour. The meeting was transferred as the first wave of the international horses are scheduled to arrive at the Sandown quarantine centre on Saturday week. Australian Quarantine Inspection Service regulations do not permit race meetings to be run at Sandown while horses are in quarantine. But there is still no certainty about overseas horses running at the spring carnival unless the public liability insurance against an outbreak of any horse disease is lifted from $100 million to $350 million. And the MRC, which owns Sandown, said unless the other metropolitan clubs and Country Racing Victoria joined it in accepting a joint risk, Sandown would not be available to foreign horses. Peter Moody said the decision to shift the Sandown meeting to Seymour was disgraceful. Fellow trainer Danny O'Brien said it was an example of the needs of the overseas horses being put before the locals'. Alducci said it was "simply not good enough" for such an important meeting not to be held at a metropolitan track, and given it was a MRC meeting, it was beholden on the club to run the meeting at Caulfield, its other track. He said with a 13-day break to the Caulfield Guineas meeting on October 11, it gave staff sufficient time to prepare the track. "Many of our members have set this meeting to set up their spring horses and it's simply not good enough to be shunted off at the last minute to Seymour," Alducci said. MRC chief executive Warran Brown said it was not an option to race at Caulfield. "We can't afford to have the track cut up before the carnival," Brown said. O'Brien said he had programmed several spring-bound horses to run at Sandown because the track lent itself best to their needs with its spacious circuit and generous run home. He said Seymour was a poor alternative because unless horses drew inside barrier five, they did not have a realistic chance. "How long has RVL known that there was a possibility this may happen, a month? They just don't care," O'Brien said. "If they showed us the same diligence, professionalism and willingness to please they show the overseas trainers like Luca (Cumani) and Aidan (O'Brien), then they would have done something. It shows the contempt they hold the local participants in." Brown said he hoped the public liability issue would be resolved in the next few days. Source: The Australian

Thu, 18 December 2008
Deep doo-doo: ice cream saga reveals the risks
THE Coogee Bay Hotel is facing one of the greatest threats to its profitability and its all-important brand with the discovery that a customer was served human faeces in a chocolate ice cream dessert. This raises an issue for all small businesses: how vulnerable are they to employee or even customer sabotage, and what protection they should have. The lesson from this case is that business owners and managers have a massive business risk and while insurance offers some protection, highly enlightened leadership and top-notch employee relations are critically important. In case you missed this controversial event, a family reported that they had been served human poo in a bowl of chocolate ice cream. The hotel has settled the case with a $50,000 compensation payment. The matter is still subject to police investigation and the culprits are still to be identified. It's reported that staff have been DNA-tested. In the meantime the hotel has lost incalculable goodwill, jokesters christening it with economically damaging nicknames such as "Poogee Bay Hotel". As risk management is critical for all successful business strategies, the question is: does conventional business insurance cover proprietors against the direct economic losses that can come from incidents of this kind? All food businesses and most operations that serve coffee could potentially poison a customer. Cafes, restaurants and shops could easily and accidentally threaten customers' health through the likes of salmonella. "Public and products liability insurance would generally compensate customers for personal injury or damage to their property caused by the non-deliberate failure of an employee to exercise the degree of care required," says Gerard McDermott, the executive general manager, customer and sales service, at GIO. "For example, an employee may accidentally spill a serving tray of hot food and beverage on a customer during the course of serving." But the big issue for the Coogee Bay Hotel specifically and other businesses generally is that public liability policies do not, as a rule, cover the deliberate and criminal acts of employees. John Hart, the chief executive of Restaurant and Catering Australia stresses the difficulties for business owners when a disgruntled staff member goes feral. "I would think the insurance coverage depends on whether the act was malicious," he says. "In such a case, I doubt anything would cover such an action." The food industry is responsible for self-regulation of the safety of the food and beverages they supply whether as a cafe, restaurant or producer. "The public and products liability product provides cover to compensate customers for unintended omissions that result in contamination of food, leading to claims," McDermot says. "For food and beverage manufacturers, specialist insurance known as 'malicious product tamper' can be purchased to cover the deliberate contamination of food. Source: The Australian

Thu, 18 December 2008
Mothers in mourning for friend killed in balcony fall
LIMPING on crutches and clutching flowers, mourning mothers filed into the chapel at Brisbane's Anglican Church Grammar School yesterday to grieve for their friend killed in a balcony collapse. "Everybody's very distressed and sad considering we've lost one of our friends," said one of the "Churchie mums" who survived the disaster. "We are all in a state of shock. It could have been any one of us who lost our life in a split second." A 48-year-old woman died in hospital yesterday from injuries sustained when a veranda gave way during end-of-year drinks -- traditionally hosted at the home of the school captain -- on Thursday. Her family asked police not to reveal her identity. The Seven Network reported the woman's name as Annette Spencer. Seven other mothers remain in hospital. Tim Biggs, the owner of the sprawling Queenslander in the blue-chip suburb of Ascot, yesterday spoke of his "devastation". "The family is devastated and we are really, really feeling for the mothers, and particularly the family of the mother who died," Mr Biggs said. "It's just terrible." Mr Biggs -- a managing partner in the accountancy firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, and his wife, Belinda, who was taken to hospital after the collapse -- bought the four-bedroom home for $1.7 million three years ago. Brisbane City Council inspectors visited the house yesterday, measuring the height and width of the balcony after a 15-minute chat with Mr Biggs. Queensland Coroner Michael Barnes last night said he would investigate the fatal accident. "We need to understand what caused the collapse," he said. As the mothers of students attending the prestigious boys' school known as "Churchie", the 27 injured women are well-connected members of Brisbane's professional society. Law firm Slater and Gordon said people injured in such accidents would have to sue the home owner if they wanted compensation. "You have to prove there is negligence before you have any right to sue," the firm's public liability specialist, Margaret Brain, said yesterday. "It's a fault-based system and in order to claim damages, you have to show there was negligence." Source: The Australian

Thu, 18 December 2008
Jockeys seek safeguards
THE Australian Jockeys' Association warned strike action remains a strong possibility unless its claim for insurance costs and welfare programs is endorsed. AJA chairman Ross Inglis said much hinged on today's meeting with the Australian Racing Board over a scheme to safeguard the country's 860 jockeys. Inglis said the meeting would seek national endorsement of its claim for an additional one per cent of prizemoney. He said the money would be directed towards protecting jockeys through public liability insurance and welfare programs. Also, the AJA is seeking to support jockeys and their families in financial hardship due to death, illness and injury through the National Jockeys' Trust. Another AJA initiative is funding other welfare programs. "It's D-day," Inglis said. "On Wednesday there was a timely reminder for everyone. How on earth those jockeys that fell at Randwick were not more seriously hurt is anyone's guess. "Public liability is a major issue. It hasn't been resolved. No other sportsperson has to pay their own public liability insurance." Inglis said the AJA had received positive support from Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania, but was not sure where the other States stood. Source: AdelaideNow

Thu, 18 December 2008
Back us or we'll strike
THE Australian Jockeys' Association warned yesterday that strike action remains a strong possibility unless its claim for insurance costs and welfare programs is endorsed. AJA chairman Ross Inglis said much hinged on today's meeting with the Australian Racing Board over a scheme to safeguard the country's 860 jockeys. Inglis said the meeting would seek national endorsement of its claim for an additional one per cent of prizemoney. He said the money would be directed towards protecting jockeys through public liability insurance and welfare programs. The AJA is also seeking, through the National Jockeys' Trust, to support jockeys and their families in financial hardship because of death, illness or injury. "It's D-day," Inglis said. "On Wednesday there was a timely reminder for everyone. How on earth those jockeys that fell at Rosehill were not more seriously hurt is anyone's guess. "Public liability is a major issue. It hasn't been resolved. No other sportsperson has to pay their own public liability insurance." Inglis said the AJA had received positive support from Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania, but was unsure where other states stood. He said today's meeting would decide what the AJA's next step would be. Source: Herald Sun

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