obiter | ByLawyers News and Updates

Motor Vehicle Accidents – NSW

by

The Costs section in the By Lawyers Motor Vehicle Accidents From 1 December 2017  guide has been reviewed and enhanced.

The By Lawyers NSW Motor Vehicle Accident publication contains two separate guides – one for motor vehicle accidents which occurred before 1 December 2017, another for motor vehicle accidents which occurred from that date. This reflects the two separate statutory schemes which apply.

The Costs section of the matter plan and commentary has been re-organised with new sub-headings for improved searchability and additional content. Enhancements include:

  • Restrictions on costs generally clarified and emphasised, given their significance to practitioners for claims under the Motor Accident Injuries Act 2017;
  • Costs in statutory benefits claims – maximum allowances for work relating to each of the three types of disputes in statutory benefits claims – merit, medical and miscellaneous;
  • Costs in common law claims – the allowable costs for common law claims divided into stages of the matter now listed in the commentary;
  • Contracting out of the maximum costs provisions, with commentary on the restrictions that apply;
  • Addition of the recent case AAI Limited trading as GIO v Moon [2020] NSWSC 714 on the ability of the Dispute Resolution Service to award costs above the maximum in certain cases;
  • Payment – how a practitioner submits a tax invoice to the insurer; and
  • Costs disclosure to SIRA – lawyers representing claimants are required to provide SIRA with a breakdown of the costs charged to the client at the end of the matter.

This review is part of By Lawyers continuing commitment to enhancing our content and helping our subscribers enjoy practice more.

Statutory benefits – MAIA – NSW

by

A recent case on statutory benefits under the Motor Accident Injuries Act 2017 has been added to the By Lawyers Motor Accidents From 1 December 2017 (NSW) Guide.

The Act provides that benefits for treatment and loss of income are payable to those injured in motor vehicle accidents, regardless of fault. Where the accident is wholly or mostly caused by the claimant, those benefits cease after 26 weeks.

In AAI Limited v Singh [2019] NSWSC 1300 the Supreme Court considered the potentially complicated question of when the claimant is, or might be deemed to be, at fault and therefore whether statutory benefits should cease after 26 weeks. The court identified an anomaly in the legislation, being an inconsistency between s 5.1 and s 5.6 and opined that ‘Amendment will be necessary if a spate of litigation generated by the obscurities of these provisions is to be avoided’.

The court in this instance determined that the statutory benefits payable to a driver of a single vehicle accident, who was not at fault, should not cease after 26 weeks.

This case has been added to the By Lawyers Commentary under the sections titled No-fault accidents and When do statutory benefits cease, as valuable guidance for subscribers acting for claimants in receipt of statutory benefits.

 

Connect with us