Abuse Law: What to expect during your QLD abuse personal injury claim

1. Section 9 of the Act – Part 1 Notice of Claim: You are required to serve a document called a Part 1 Notice of Claim Form on the person or entity responsible for your injuries (known as the respondent). 

2. Section 10 of the Act – Proper Respondent response & Section 12 of the Act – Compliance response: The respondent/s in which the Part 1 Notice of Claim Form was served upon are required to provide the following responses within one month of service of the Part 1 Notice of Claim: 

• Whether they believe they are a proper respondent to your claim; and 

• Whether they find your Part 1 Notice of Claim to be compliant.  

3. Section 27 of the Act – Respondent Disclosure: The respondent has a period of 1 month from the date of compliance in which to provide copies of all relevant documents in its possession about the incident (i.e., the abuse and its circumstances). This includes copies of any incident reports, witness statements obtained at the time of the incident, photographs or surveillance footage and investigative reports. Due to the length of time since the historical incidents of abuse, it may take the respondent/s longer than one month to locate the documents.

4. Section 22 of the Act – Claimant Disclosure: You are obliged to provide copies of all relevant documents in your possession. This includes all documents you have about the incident/abuse, your injury, rehabilitation, capacity to work, expenses, other illnesses or injuries etc.

5. Section 9 of the Act – Part 2 Notice of Claim: The Notice of Claim Part 2 Form provides the respondent/s with further information in relation to your claim, including information concerning any claim for loss of income, any rehabilitation that you have received, and the ongoing disabilities caused by your injury. The Notice of Claim Part 2 Form is due to be served on the respondent/s within 2 months of compliance. 

6. Section 20 of the Act – Liability Response: The respondent/s has 6 months from the date of compliance in which to take reasonable steps to inform itself about the incident/abuse and provide a written notice stating whether liability is admitted or denied, and if contributory negligence is claimed. During this period, the respondent/s may also contact witnesses for statements in relation to your incident. 

7. Medical Examinations: During your claim, we will arrange for you to be examined by a medico-legal psychiatrist. The purpose of an examination is to obtain expert medical opinion in relation to the nature and extent of your injury, impairment and/or disability resulting from the incident. The respondent may also request that you undergo a medical examination with a second independent specialist.  

For more information on medical examinations, please read our article ‘Abuse Law: What can I expect at my psychiatric appointment’: https://littles.co/abuse-law-what-can-i-expect-at-my-psychiatric-appointment/ 

8.  Section 36 of the Act – Compulsory Conference: Before starting court proceedings, there must be a compulsory conference convened between the parties. You are required to attend the conference. The conference is usually scheduled to take place after your injury is stable, once the parties have obtained medical opinion/s, and once all the procedural steps in your claim have been complete.  

9. Section 42 of the Act – Litigated Proceedings: If your claim does not resolve at the compulsory conference, it will be necessary to commence court proceedings within 60 days after the compulsory conference.