Personal Injuries Proceedings Act 2002

Before starting a proceeding in a court based on a claim, a claimant must give written notice of the claim, in the approved form, to the person against whom the proceeding is proposed to be started.

The approved form must provide for the notice to be in 2 parts, namely part 1 and part 2.

The approved form may provide that some or all information included in the notice be verified by statutory declaration.

The notice must—

contain a statement of the information required under a regulation; and

authorise each of the following to have access to records and sources of information relevant to the claim specified under a regulation—

the person;

if the person is insured against the claim, the person’s insurer for the claim; and

if a law practice is retained by the claimant to act in relation to the claim and section 9A does not apply in relation to the claim—be accompanied by—

a copy of the law practice certificate for the claim given under section 8C by the supervising principal of the law practice; and

if the claimant has received a copy of a law practice certificate for the claim under section 8F(2)(b)—the copy of the certificate; and

be accompanied by the documents required under a regulation.

A regulation may require information or other material to accompany a particular part of a notice of a claim.

Part 1 of the notice must be given within the period ending on the earlier of the following days—

the day 9 months after the day the incident giving rise to the personal injury happened or, if symptoms of the injury are not immediately apparent, the first appearance of symptoms of the injury;

the day 1 month after the day the claimant first instructs a law practice to act on the person’s behalf in seeking damages for the personal injury and the person against whom the proceeding is proposed to be started is identified.

Part 2 of the notice must be given, to the person to whom part 1 of the notice was given, within 2 months after the earlier of the following to happen—

the person to whom part 1 of the notice was given complies with section 10(1);

the person to whom part 1 of the notice was given is, under section 13, conclusively presumed to be satisfied part 1 of the notice is a complying part 1 notice of claim.

If the claimant is a child, the child’s parent or legal guardian may give the notice for the child.

If part 1 of the notice is not given within the period prescribed under subsection (3) or section 9A(9)(b), the obligation to give the notice under subsection (1) continues and a reasonable excuse for the delay must be given in part 1 of the notice or by separate notice to the person against whom the proceeding is proposed to be started.

If part 1 of the notice is not given within the period prescribed under subsection (3) or section 9A(9)(b), the claimant is taken to have a reasonable excuse for subsection (5) if—

the claimant—

has made a health service complaint about the person against whom the proceeding is proposed to be started to the Health Rights Commissioner under the Health Rights Commission Act 1991 within the period prescribed for making a complaint under that Act; and

gives part 1 of the notice to the person as soon as practicable after the complaint is finalised under the Health Rights Commission Act 1991, the repealed Health Quality and Complaints Commission Act 2006 or the Health Ombudsman Act 2013; or

the claimant—

has made a health service complaint about the person against whom the proceeding is proposed to be started to the Health Quality and Complaints Commission under the Health Quality and Complaints Commission Act 2006 within the period prescribed for making a complaint under that Act; and

gives part 1 of the notice to the person as soon as practicable after the complaint is finalised under the Health Quality and Complaints Commission Act 2006 or Health Ombudsman Act 2013; or

the claimant—

has made a health service complaint about the person against whom the proceeding is proposed to be started to the health ombudsman under the Health Ombudsman Act 2013 within 2 years after the claimant became aware of the matter of the complaint; and

gives part 1 of the notice to the person as soon as practicable after the complaint is finalised under the Health Ombudsman Act 2013.

If a proceeding based on a claim may be started against 2 or more persons, the person to whom part 1 of a notice of a claim is given must, within the period prescribed under a regulation or, if no period is prescribed, within 1 month after receiving it—

give a copy of it to each other person known to the person who may be a person against whom a proceeding might be started by the claimant based on the claim; and

advise the claimant of each other person to whom a copy of it has been given and give the claimant a short statement of the person’s reasons for considering the other person may be a person against whom a proceeding might be started based on the claim.

Subsection (7)(a) does not require the person (the first person) to whom part 1 of the notice is given by a claimant to give a copy of it to another person if the claimant has advised the first person in writing that the claimant has given, or will give, a copy of it to the other person.

If the person against whom a proceeding based on a claim is proposed to be started is the State or an entity with the privileges and immunities of the State, the giving of part 1 of a notice of a claim is effective only if it—

is given to the Crown solicitor; and

identifies the government department or entity the claimant considers responsible for the conduct that caused the injury.

If part 1 of a notice of a claim is given under subsection (8), the government department or entity identified under subsection (8)(b) is taken to be the person to whom part 1 of the notice of a claim is given.

To remove any doubt, it is declared that subsection (3)(a), to the extent that it provides that part 1 of a notice may be given after the first appearance of symptoms of the personal injury, does not determine or affect when a cause of action in relation to the injury arose for the purposes of the Limitation of Actions Act 1974.

For subsection (3)(b), consultation by a claimant with a community legal service, whether before or after the commencement of this subsection, is to be disregarded.

This section is subject to section 9A.

Subsections (3), (5) and (6) do not apply to a claim based on a personal injury of a person resulting from the abuse of the person when the person was a child.

In this section—

sexual abuse or serious physical abuse of the child; or

psychological abuse of the child perpetrated in connection with sexual abuse or serious physical abuse of the child.