Christmas brings with it a flurry of social activity. People regard Christmas as a good time to gather together and celebrate the year just gone. The office or work party is very much a tradition of Christmas. So too is the tradition of drinking too much alcohol and behaving badly. What are some employer traps […]
The NSW government is proposing radical changes to our Compulsory Third Party (Green Slip) insurance scheme. The current scheme isn’t perfect or cheap. But it ensures that everyone injured in a motor vehicle accident (not just drivers – but passengers, pedestrians and cyclists too) have reasonable access to justice and compensation for their loss. The […]
The recent media coverage surrounding the death and serious injury of two newborn babies at Bankstown Hospital was understandably met with public horror. How could our health system have failed these families in such a tragic way? Yet these sad circumstances also remind us of a second horror – that our legal system does not […]
The recent NSW Supreme Court decision in Loumbos v Ward [2016] NSWSC 885 reminds us of how the law interprets gifts in contemplation of marriage. Mr Loumbos and Ms Ward were involved in a tempestuous relationship between 2011 and 2013. Mr Loumbos, an often wealthy, sometimes not, man showered Ms Loumbos with gifts over the […]
Last month the Supreme Court ruled in the case of Oei v The Australian Golf Club [2016] NSWSC 846. Dr Oei, a successful sports physician joined The Australian Golf Club in 2007, paying a $20,000 plus joining fee and yearly membership fees. The Club alleged that on two occasions in 2015, Dr Oei was observed […]
In April 2016, the Supreme Court of Queensland ruled in the fascinating case of Re Leith Dorene Patteson [2016] QSC 104. The applicant, Ms Leith Patteson met Mr Tony Deane in August 2015. They commenced a relationship in September 2015, shortly after which Mr Deane was diagnosed with a serious and rare blood disease. The […]
Workers compensation a ‘tricky’ legal scheme, says lawyer 03 May 2016 • By Melissa Coade Lawyers face two main challenges when wading into the complexity of workers compensation claims: a mastery of the facts and applying ever-changing laws, according to the director of Goldbergs Lawyers. Over the course of his 30-year legal career, Michael Moore has witnessed an […]
The rights of injured workers in NSW have been steadily and dramatically eroded since 2001. The NSW workers compensation system is now at a point where it is acknowledged even by insurers to be unfair, capricious and overly complicated. This is all in the context of the WorkCover fund being seriously in surplus and with […]
I recently had a client seek my advice regarding an order the Police made under the Crimes (Forensic Procedures) Act 2000 (“the Act”). The Act enables the Police to “backcapture” DNA, that is, request an individual undergo a forensic procedure to obtain a DNA sample for inclusion on a national database if that individual has previously […]
The Courts recognise that when a spouse dies, it is not always enough for the family home to be left to the surviving spouse by way of a life estate. The idea of a life estate – the right to occupy and use the property during one’s life time – meets with difficulties, particularly in […]