Civil liability changes

The Civil Liability and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2010 received Royal Assent on 17 March 2010 and amends several aspects of common law damages and civil liability threshold amounts.

For injuries arising after 1 July 2010, a new increased schedule of general damages will apply under the Civil Liability Regulation 2003. This scale will be subject to indexation annually. Injuries arising between 2 December 2002 and 30 June 2010 will be subject to the existing general damages scale, which will remain unindexed.

From 1 July 2010:

• provisions will be introduced into the Civil Liability Act 2003 for awards of damages for gratuitous domestic services provided by an injured person;
• dust-related claims will have access to damages for gratuitous domestic services provided by an injured person even if the relevant breach of duty is before 1 July 2010 in certain circumstances; and
• restrictions are also being placed on the ability of the court to order interest on awards for general damages and damages for gratuitous domestic services provided by an injured person.

Threshold amounts will also be indexed for injuries arising on or after 1 July 2010:

• under the Civil Liability Regulation 2003 for loss of consortium or loss of servitium and future loss;
• under the Motor Accident Insurance Act 1994 for exchange of mandatory final offers if a claim is not settled at compulsory conference and costs in cases involving relatively small awards of damages;
• under the Personal Injuries Proceedings Act 2002 for provisions about mandatory final offers and costs in cases involving damages awards of not more than $50000; and
• under the Personal Injuries Proceedings Regulation 2002 for costs when a mandatory final offer is accepted.

The legislation also:

• from 1 July 2010, introduces spouse’s remedies for loss or impairment of consortium;
• removes limitation periods for personal injuries resulting from dust-related conditions which do not relate to the use of tobacco in certain circumstances; and
• introduces, in Personal Injuries Proceedings Act 2002, provisions to permit urgent proceedings to be commenced by agreement of the parties in addition to commencing urgent proceedings with the court’s leave.