In Byrne v People Resourcing (Qld) Pty Ltd & Anor [2014] QSC (Byrne), Carmody CJ held that WorkCover Queensland (WorkCover) was required to indemnify the plaintiff’s employer, People Resourcing (Qld) Pty Ltd (PRQ) a labour hire company in relation to a contractual indemnity that PRQ had provided to one of its clients/host employers, Thiess John Holland (TJH).

Five Things to Know About Electronic Communications:

• "Click Wrap" agreements;
• When is an email received;
• 'Meeting of the minds';
• Input errors; and
• Electronic signatures

Click here to read the latest cases in Health Law -  The High Court has recently decided that a hospital is not liable for violent acts of a discharged mental health patient.   In addition, another case explains why hospitals should keep health care records relevant to a particular patient.

Without much fanfare last week Australia’s new, but long awaited, Franchising Code of Conduct was published. Since it is to take effect on 1 January 2015, Australian franchise systems need to work fast to make sure that their documents and processes are in order before the new year. 

On 23 October 2014 the Federal Court of Australia handed down a decision that dealt with the downloading of software by an employee immediately before his departure from that firm and his taking up employment with a competitor.

Despite the court’s finding that the employee received no material benefit from use of the information, and his new employer had no access to the information, significant monetary compensation was payable by the employee.  The facts are as follows.

Holman Webb acted for CGU Insurance Limited in what is considered to be the first successful subrogated recovery action against a water authority.  The case involved damage caused to an insured’s property when a water main substantially failed and the property became inundated with water. In the decision of Peter and Cheryle Quigley v Lower Murray Water (W119/2013) the VCAT considered for the first time a water authority’s defence of running an asset to failure and its defence of non-foreseeability.

Please find below Holman Webb Schedule of Non-Economic Loss under the Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW) for 2014/2015.

Welcome to the first edition of the Holman Webb Insurance Law Bulletin.

This edition of the Bulletin highlights cases on legal professional privilege, bullying, workers compensation, aviation, liability and medical malpractice. We also discuss the recent High Court decision in respect of section 54 of the Insurance Contracts Act

Despite what some might call ‘hysteria’ that prevailed at the time of the introduction of the anti-bullying laws and the expectation of the Fair Work Commission (the Commission) that it may receive some 3,500 bullying related applications per month the reality is that far fewer complaints of bullying have been received by the Commission and it has not stopped employees resorting to other avenues of redress such as workers compensation and adverse action. These other avenues are likely to be more attractive as a potential financial remedy is available.

S54 of the Insurance Contracts Act 1984 (Cth) may well be the bane of all insurers as it is really a double-edged sword. In essence, it prevents an Insurer from relying on a breach of a policy condition to deny a claim because the insured has committed a particular act, error or omission (after the policy is entered into) which did not cause or contribute to the loss. However, the insurer may instead, reduce the claim to the extent of the prejudice it has suffered.  If the act, error or omission caused or contributed to the loss, then the insurer can refuse to pay the claim.