For The Lawyers, Lessons In Biology And Survival
Sydney Morning Herald
Tuesday June 4, 2002
In reference to ``Hard lessons for lawyers after personal injury blow" (Herald, June 3), the lawyers have forgotten a basic biological fact: when the host dies, so do the parasites.
Dr Andrew Biankin,
Consultant surgeon,
Sydney, June 3.
The greatest change to compensation litigation will come when the application of negligence law includes consideration of a standard of reasonableness. A breach of duty of care can be found in virtually any case, if the required standard is too stringent.
The public response to recent negligence findings should alert the judiciary that realistic standards are being disregarded and that the laws are being applied in circumstances beyond their intention.
Fergus Davidson,
Russell Lea, June 3.
Only one word suffices to describe the lobbying plans of the Australian Plaintiff Lawyers Association: obscene (``Lawyers to use injured as lobbyists", Herald, June 3).
As a specialist insurance broker in professional indemnity and liability insurance, I see the results of APLA's efforts as it translates into (a) premium rises, (b) non-availability of coverage and (c) the loss of access by Australians to insurance markets, global and domestic.
I deal daily with the claims made against insureds and some of the ridiculous assertions made by APLA practitioners in an effort to justify what can only be described as outrageous compensation claims.
APLA's assertion that no-one can ``prove" that our current laws and their abuse are atthe heart of the problem sounds familiarly like thespurious argument made by tobacco companies 35-40 years ago when they crowed overthe ``fact" that governments couldn't ``prove" the link between smoking and lung cancer. Do we need to witness the collapse of our liability and professional indemnity insurance sector before APLA practitioners finally see what they have wrought?
I don't usually support Bob Carr and Labor, but this time they have got it more right than they will ever know and they have my vote.
Brian King,
Baulkham Hills, June 3.
So the lawyers are trying to blackmail the NSW Opposition into opposing changes to much needed insurance liability reforms by suggesting that the Liberals will get the blame if premiums don't fall.
Well, if the Liberals do block reform then we know who to blame when premiums inevitably rise.
Stephen Thomas,
Wahroonga, June 3.
© 2002 Sydney Morning Herald
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