Can I make a compensation claim?

Compensation, compo, damages, reimbursement, and claim are all expressions you may have heard which can mean the same thing. Assessing if you are entitled to compensation will depend on where and how you were injured. 

There are laws set out in legislation as well as case law from the Courts which establish who can claim compensation, how to go about making a claim and how claims will be assessed (put into a dollar value sum).   

If you have sustained an injury, you may be entitled to make a claim for compensation. Claims can be made in a fault and no-fault scheme. 

The legal term when we talk about fault is negligence. An example of an at fault type claim is a motor vehicle accident, where a vehicle fails to stop at a crossing and hits a pedestrian. That pedestrian would be entitled to make a claim for injury and losses incurred against the driver and their insurer. In this type of claim, lawyers look at whether there was a “duty of care” and whether that duty was breached, that will determine whether the person has an entitlement to make a claim. Another example of an at fault type claim would be an accident at work where your employer or another employee has done something negligent. It is best to check with a lawyer whether the circumstances of your accident amount to negligence, there is a vast amount of case law that establishes what the Courts will assess as negligence.  

You may be entitled to compensation even where no one is at fault. An example of this would be where you have suffered injury or illness that no one is responsible for, but you have Income Protection or Total and Permanent Disability Insurance. In this situation your entitlement to make a claim is based on the terms of the insurance policy and someone being at fault is not a consideration. Again, we recommend seeking legal advice specific to your circumstances and policy. 

If you’d like to learn more, see this article about workers’ compensation.

Further reading about compensation claims in Queensland

https://www.worksafe.qld.gov.au/claims-and-insurance/compensation-claims