Ben Grosse on the 2GB Deborah Knight Show discussing Personal Injury 22 June 2021

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CS – Chris Smith/BG – Ben Grosse /C1,2,3, etc – Callers

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Read the transcript below:

DK      And every Tuesday we do talk Legal Matters with Turner Freeman Lawyers, if you’ve got a question, a query, personal injury is our focus today. 131 873, maybe you’ve been injured at the shops or you’ve had a car accident that’s causing you ongoing pain or something has gone wrong for you at work, you could have rights to compensation, so free legal advice right now. I’m joined by Ben Grosse from Turner Freeman Lawyers and we’ve got our $100 Westfield voucher as well for the best call, the best question in the segment today. Ben thanks for joining us on Afternoon.

BG      Oh good afternoon, Deb, how are you?

DK      I’m well thank you. We’ll get to the calls in just a moment but I reckon one of the most common issues with personal injury and public liability is in the public spaces, so play equipment, footpaths or even roads, how can people actually get compensation though, because many local councils have got built in special waivers haven’t they?

BG      Oh look, it can be very difficult sometimes particularly under the provisions of a Civil Liability Act and without getting into it too much or too dry you know, in many cases particularly when it comes to roads or footpaths adjacent to roads, it needs to be demonstrated that particular council or roads authority had actual knowledge of the, well in this scenario the pothole or the risk.

DK      Because it’s council’s job to make sure that it’s issue free, to make sure that the footpaths don’t have big gaping holes in them or the roads as well.

BG      Yeah, and you know members of the public expect you know they do their job and they get around and they fill these things in, you know and fairness to council though, sometime issues arise when you have periods of poor weather, you know they have to run around do a lot at the same time but you now it comes down to reasonableness.

DK      Yeah and it’s a good thing to take into account that you could have those rather than just dismissing it as saying look they’ve got waivers, I won’t get any compensation, there are certainly cases where you can get financial compensation for issues and injuries that you’ve suffered aren’t there?

BG      Yeah, particularly in circumstances where the council has been aware of it and hasn’t acted on it.

DK      Alright, let’s get to some calls. Graham is on the line, g’day Graham.

Caller No 1     Graham

C1       G’day Deb, how are you?

DK      I’m well thank you.

C1       My question today is I work in a retail store and I suffered an injury which was a hernia. Now the hernia has been checked out by 2 surgeons which say that I need an operation to have it fixed but the insurance company, come retail company has got me to see an extra surgeon, one of their doctors I suppose you’d call it, and he’s rejected my claim. Now I’d like to know where do I go from here?

BG      Look mate, I’d encourage you to speak to a lawyer, it’s often the case unfortunately when it comes to worker’s compensation insurers that yeah sometimes they do try it on, they send people to unfavourable doctors and they get opinions that they want to knock back a claim, so I think in those circumstances it’s important to get advice about it and see what you can do to challenge it.

DK      Alright Graham, stay on the line we’ll get your details and I’ll send you out the $100 voucher from Westfield’s because I think that’s one of those common problems that in the workplace you’re just not sure what your rights are so we’ll send that Westfield voucher your way Graham. Thank you for calling in 131 873. If you’ve got a question or a query you can text in as well 0460 873 873. Just on the topic of councils, I saw this story recently with Strathfield Council in Sydney, where they paid out $240 to someone who damages their car in a pot hole but other councils aren’t paying anyone. Why is there such inconsistency with this sort of stuff, Ben?

BG      Oh look, you know, the figures are remarkable aren’t they. You know, but I guess is they don’t wish to set a precedent and you know those same exclusions that I was talking about earlier or waivers as you described them, you know they apply to both property damage and to personal injury, so in many cases if the council is able to say that they didn’t have knowledge of the particular pot hole to use that scenario, they can escape liability whether that be for property damage or personal injury.

DK      And what proof do you need that an injury is a result of someone else and that it isn’t your fault?

BG      Look, it doesn’t so much come down to fault in that case, I mean look something that the lawyers often do is we can lodge freedom of information requests, you know we can look at the works that have been done at a particular street over a period of time and then we’re entitled to seek those records from councils and you know sometimes it’s often the case that we’ll get those records and they’ll show that well there’s no record of any complaints about the problem or there’s no record of issues taking place in a particular street. However it stands to reason that if people have been writing in to council and ringing up and complaining about it, those records will be there and they are in some cases.

DK      Alright., Michael has got a question for you. G’day Michael.

Caller No 2     Michael

C2       G’day Deb. I parked my car outside of a hotel and go into the eating area and while I was there someone has come along with a sharp instrument and run it down my car. It’s a new BMW, and they’ve just run it right down the car. It could be a knife, it could be anything, I don’t know. What I’m worried about is the hotel responsible for that or it’s my responsibility.

DK      That’s a good question, so it’s in a hotel car park and you’re just wondering if the hotel might have some liability. What’s the case there Ben?

BG      Look the short answer unfortunately is probably the hotel I wouldn’t say does have any liability, however it may be the case you can speak to them and explain the situation you’re in and perhaps they might be prepared to look at their CCTV footage and see if they can try and identify the person who’s done it.

DK      So they don’t have responsibility at all for what happens in the car park?

BG      No, not in terms of property damage and that scenario.

DK      Definitely given them a call and ask them though Michael, because you know what out of goodwill they may well offer to help you out there in some regard but that’s frustrating when people do that. Thank you for the call Michael.  Rebecca’s got a question too. Hello Rebecca.

Caller No 3     Rebecca

C3       Hi Deborah, how are you today?

DK      I’m well thank you.

C3       Thank you for taking my call, I was in the NSW Police Force for 17 years and I was medically discharged due to an assault that I received, I received a back injury, now I received a compensation amount about 13 years ago, I’ve recently just been diagnosed with PTSD as a direct result from my service in the Police, so I just want to know if I would have any recourse in relation to the, financial recourse in relation to the PTSD that’s just been accepted. They’ve actually accepted liability in terms of that PTSD.

DK      So you’re wondering if you might have any compensation coming your way. Ben?

BG      Yeah again I think it’s a situation which I’d encourage you to seek advice and you know it’s not a matter that I could give advice, or that you’d want me to give advice about on the radio, but just in general terms, it is often the case as you’d expect for police officers can sustain PTSD from their line of work and it is again regularly the case that they can receive compensation for it, they have their own special worker’s compensation regime, so again I’d encourage you to get some advice about that.

DK      If you can stay on the line Rebecca, we’ll get your details through to Ben because you may well have some recourse there. Ben we are out of time but thank you so much for joining us.

BG      No problem, thanks again Deb.

DK      There is he Ben Grosse and Turner Freeman Lawyers provide a range of specialised legal services, they’ve got compensation and negligence law, asbestos litigation, superannuation and disability claims, employment law, wills and estates and property law and if you want to get in touch with any of the lawyers at Turner Freeman, their website turnerfreeman.com.au or give them a call on 13 43 63.