This hearing is a break through for injured workers of the Kennett era and
beyond. Now that this case law is available, all injured workers who have
found themselves out of time for their claim can now go ahead and sue for
their injuries. Make an appointment with your legal representative asap.
VICTIMS of workplace accidents could now sue for damages decades
after the event, following a landmark High Court decision that will force
former ATSIC chairman Geoff Clark to defend claims he led the 1971
pack-rape of a 16-year-old girl.
The judgment, which was opposed by Justices Michael Kirby and William
Gummow, specifically applies to Victorian law, but will have ramifications
around the nation.
It means that more people who have suffered personal injuries will be able to
explore their rights beyond the statute of limitations. That will be the case
particularly in circumstances where there is delayed onset of injury or where
they do not have access to information or knowledge about the cause of their
injury.
Cases that could now proceed include medical negligence actions in which, for
example, a surgical object is left inside a patient but the effects are not known
for many years; and cases involving exposure to occupational hazards, such as
cancer-causing chemicals, where an illness takes years to emerge, also where
psychiatric injury has taken years to manifest.
Even those cases in which a claimant knows they have an injury, but does not
become aware for years later than the injury was caused by someone else's
negligence, would be affected by yesterday's judgment.
Source: Natasha Robinson, The Australian. 21.07.06
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