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Legislative
Changes To Help The Cause...
Senator
Coonan said the Panel, jointly established by the Commonwealth, State
and Territory governments, would be asked to report on a range of
aspects of the law of negligence, including:
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Common
law principles to limit liability arising from personal injury or
death;
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Principled
options to limit liability and quantum of awards for damages;
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Proposals
for allowing individuals to assume their own risk;
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Options
to limit claims of negligence to within three years of an event
(i.e. reducing the statute of limitations);
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Options
for a requirement that the standard of care in professional
negligence matters, including medical negligence, accords with the
generally accepted practice of the relevant profession at the
time of the negligent act or omission; and
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Options
for exempting or limiting the liability of eligible not-for-profit
organisations from damages claims for death or personal injury.
Included
in the Panel’s terms of reference is review of the interaction of
the Trade Practices Act 1974 (as proposed to be amended as discussed
earlier in this article) with the common law principles applied in
negligence (particularly with respect to waivers and the voluntary
assumption of risk). The
Panel is required to have reported to Ministers on all terms of
reference by 30th September 2002.
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Senator
Coonan said that the review would provide a platform for Governments
to reform the law as it applies to public liability, professional and
medical indemnity.
As
commented in previous Updates, a remedy to the liability insurance
situation will not happen overnight, and the solution will not come
from one single source. It
is refreshing to see action occurring from the perspective of
legislative change (State and Federal) and other government
initiatives. Insurers
obviously have to take a responsible approach, organisations need to
embrace proactive risk management methods to control their exposures
and the emergence of the “find someone to blame”
attitude in society generally needs to be appropriately harnessed.
But
I am confident the situation will ease given time – the stakes are
too high for it to do otherwise.
Written
by Rod Hughes, CEO, IEA Brokers Pty Ltd, July 2002
The
editor of the IEA Sport Monthly Update is joint Chief Executive
Officer, Rod Hughes.
IEA
has offices in every state. National freecall number 1800 SPORT
1
(1800 77678 1)
Email:info@ieasport.com.au
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