Personal Injury
4. Personal Injury Claims
Firm / Chambers:
Last updated: 13 Aug 2015
- The most common forms of personal injury claims are:
- motor vehicle accident claims;
- workplace injury claims under worker's compensation law;
- personal injury or public liability claims;
- medical negligence claims; and
- dust disease claims.
- There is a different process to follow for each of these claim types. Although the processes may be similar in nature due to the steps involved it is important to check the law and process that apply you your state or territory. You can find more information about each of these types of claim by visiting our Compensation & Insurance Law area and selecting the topic that interests you.
- If someone is making a claim for compensation against you the first thing you need to do is determine whether you have a suitable insurance policy to cover the circumstances in which the person is claiming to have been injured. If you caused or contributed to the circumstances of another person’s accident or injury there is likely to be some form of insurance that covers the situation. For example:
- if the accident or injury happened at work and you are the employer it is likely a compulsory workers’ compensation policy will cover this situation;
- if the accident occurred while driving a motor vehicle and you were involved in the accident it is likely your Compulsory Third Party (CTP) insurance will cover this situation;
- if the injury occurred in a private residence and you were the owner or occupier of the property on which the accident occurred you may be covered by a public liability insurance policy or house and contents insurance policy that also covers injury;
- if the accident occurred during a medical procedure and you were the treatment provider your professional indemnity insurance may cover this situation.
- Total and permanent disablement (TPD) claims are not strictly a personal injury claim. They fall into the same area only because if you are partially or permanently disabled due to an injury and are unable to work you may also be entitled to make a claim under a superannuation or life insurance policy. For more information see our TPD & Life Insurance topic.
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