Insurance

Experience

• CTP
• We have been acting for South Australia’s CTP insurers and claims managers for over 3 decades
• We have a team of highly experienced individuals recognised as experts in CTP, advising and managing claims arising from accidents which occurred both prior to, and subsequent to June 2013, when wide ranging changes were made to the  legislative and regulatory framework, which opened up the Scheme to new CTP insurers in South Australia
• We have managed over 1000 claims since the introduction of the Scheme changes in 2013
• Finlaysons has obtained many successful outcomes in CTP matters involving allegations of fraudulent conduct and claims farming. On many occasions the claims have been discontinued and resulted in the claimant bearing a significant cost penalty
• We have expertise in defending claims where extensions of time are sought, with several practitioners skilled in this area
• We advise on care issues in the case of catastrophic injury claims and have wide experience in navigating through the public and private care sector setting
• We have expertise in the area of costs, and regularly conduct educational sessions on cost entitlements and cost penalties in all jurisdictions
• Mental harm and dependency claims – Partner Luke Gray has specific expertise in the area of mental harm/nervous shock claims having acted in a matter which created a relevant high court authority
• Liability (professional indemnity and directors & officers)
• We have extensive experience representing insurers in all relevant jurisdictions in relation to all manner of professional indemnity claims including, but not limited to and in addition to, other information contained herein, engineers, real estate agents, builders, and legal professionals
• In the financial area, our partners and senior practitioners have experience in advising accounting firms, financial advisers, mortgage brokers and actuaries in relation to indemnity, contractual liability and claims. Our experience includes the defence of legal proceedings in all jurisdictions and representations to the Financial Ombudsman Service
• We advise on Directors and Officers Insurance for large employers, both within and outside South Australia and issues relating to privacy
• Liability (public and products)
• We have experience in the defence of liability claims arising out of industrial accidents, including industrial hazards
• Finlaysons has expertise in relation to indemnity and contractual liabilities and we have acted for large national construction and engineering companies and their insurers. We have advised one of the world’s largest tyre manufacturers in respect of claims under the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) for property damage arising out of heavy vehicle accidents consequent upon tyre failure and managed a claim under the ACL following death and injury connected with the use of a scissor lift and allegations of design defects
• Our partners, special counsel and senior practitioners have wide experiencing negotiating liability insurance and indemnity clauses in client contracts for construction, property development, labour hire, leasing, and the supply and purchase of goods and services
• Guy Biddle and other partners have extensive experience in the area of public liability risk, in particular managing claims for a large supermarket chain and on behalf of the South Australian Government
• We advise on risk management and regularly present on legislative changes in relation to liability risk and consumer law
• Dust Disease Litigation

Special counsel, Fiona Holdsworth, has many years’ experience in the defence of dust disease claims and litigation acting for a variety of South Australian employers and insurers and defending actions in the South Australian Dust Disease Tribunal

• Medical Defence
• In the area of medical defence, we act for a wide variety of hospitals and their insurers, both within South Australia and nationally, and insurers of medical practitioners and allied health professionals. We advise on the defence of claims, accreditation and regulatory issues and represent individuals and hospitals in relation to compliance issues governed by the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law.
• Our expertise extends to providing advice and representing the South Australian Government’s interests in Inquiries and Commissions, in addition to acting on their behalf to represent their interests at Coroners inquests.
• Workers Compensation
• Finlaysons acts for both self-insured employers and Government employers in this area, and partner, Guy Biddle, together with other senior practitioners, have extensive experience in advising and defending claims for individual employers and South Australian Government employers
• We advise on a wide range of workers compensation issues, from the employers perspective, including contested claims and appeals, and advisory work
• Represented a renewable energy company in relation to a determination as to which State worker’s compensation legislation applied to a Western Australian worker
• Representing employers, both government and non-government, in the South Australian Employment Tribunal, formerly the South Australian Workers Compensation Tribunal
• We successfully represented an employer in relation to a claim for workplace injury allegedly arising during the course of employment on the APY Lands. The illness was determined not to have arisen out of, or in the course of the worker’s employment
• Advising on recovery claims where responsibility for an injured worker’s claim can be attributed to the negligence of a third-party wrongdoer