Public Liability

MVM Legal has significant experience and expertise in public liability and occupiers liability claims. We act on behalf of a number of large Australian companies such as Thiess, Capral Aluminium, CSR, Wesfarmers, Coles and Toll in the defence of public liability claims brought against them.

Many of the claims we handle involve situations involving labour hire and or multiple parties where various defendants are involved in different capacities such as employer / contractor. As a result, we are well placed to deal with the issues involving the interrelationship between the Personal Injuries Proceedings Act 2002, the Civil Liability Act 2003 and the Workers Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003.

A selection of our experience in the area of public liability / occupiers liability claims includes:

• Accidents involving contractors working on either mining or construction sites,
  including fatalities, catastrophic injuries and other less serious personal injuries
• Advising clients in relation to the transfer of risk through contractual indemnities,
  the enforceability of various indemnity wordings, and the contractual requirement to
  take out public liability insurance to indemnify the principal under the contract
• Claims by employees of labour hire agencies against the hirer of the labour as well
  as contribution claims by the hirer against the employer.

As with our management of other work types, at MVM Legal we realize that with public liability claims it is important to quickly identify the issues in the claim, carry out all investigations necessary in a timely fashion, and identify areas of risk as soon as possible for our client. We pride ourselves in our ability to properly manage timeframes, providing initial advice and a reserve within two weeks of receiving instructions. In the event that fresh information comes to light which may affect our reserve estimate, we advise our clients immediately, whilst ensuring that our reserve remains accurate. We set ourselves a bench mark of resolving all matters within 110% of the reserve set.