Julia has practised exclusively in insurance litigation since her admission in 1994 principally in public liability and product liability claims acting on behalf of various insurers. She also regularly advises insurer clients on policy interpretation and indemnity issues.
Julia has managed many complex, sensitive, high profile and catastrophic claims for her various insurer clients. She has experience across a variety of jurisdictions including the Supreme Courts of the Australian Capital Territory, Northern Territory and Western Australia and coronial courts.
Julia has acted on behalf of shopping centres, educational and health facilities, charitable organisations, not for profits, builders, head contractors, public authorities, manufacturers, licensed premises, landlords (residential, retail and commercial), professional services firms and managing agents.
Julia is highly regarded for her forensic analysis of the issues and strategic focus.
Experience
- Acting in claims where the insurer has been joined directly as the insurer has denied indemnity. This includes a claim where the insured was a stonemason and a monument he designed and constructed 20 years previously for a RSL club collapsed and tragically killed a young child who was playing near it. Seven relatives of the deceased brought a claim for nervous shock.
- Acting in Compensation to Relatives and nervous shock claims arising out of the death of a family member. This including defending 5 claims arising from the death of a driver who was crushed when a semi-trailer rolled onto the deceased’s vehicle. This claim required consideration of the Heavy Vehicle National Law and the joinder of an overseas company.
- Acting for manufacturers and suppliers in defective product claims, including claims under the Australian Consumer Law
- Acting for developers, head contractors and various sub-contractors, suppliers and trades in defence of worksite injury claims. This included a claim where a building maintenance unit collapsed while it was being used by the workers to clean the windows on multistorey city office building. Both workers suffered catastrophic injuries.
- Acting for owners, managers, cleaners and security in defence of slip/trip and fall claims. This includes claims against various landlords and occupiers of residential, retail and commercial property involving alleged defects within the premises.
- Acting in claims involving forklifts being used at work sites and on private roads and unregistered vehicles such as harvesters.
- Acting for licensed premises involving slip hazards caused by spillages, trip hazards caused by defects, inadequate cleaning and hazardous practices or customs.
- Acting for hospital and educational facilities such as childcare centres, aged care centres, preschools. The claims have arisen in a variety of contexts including an assault by a patient with dementia on a visiting health care worker, trip on a bollard at an aged care care home and a child burnt with boiling water at a preschool.
- Acting for charitable and not for profit organisations. This includes acting for a charity whose protected worker drove a forklift in such a manner that the load collapsed on a courier.
- Acting for labour hire organisations including a claim where a labour hire worker drove a forklift loaded with pallets which collapsed onto a worker.
- Acting for professionals including acting for a law firm who the property developer alleges was negligent and engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct relating to a failed resort development in the Northern Territory.
- Acting for an insurer in various proceedings including property damage and a Coronial Inquest in Fremantle arising out of a fire onboard HMAS Westralia in 1998.
Memberships
- NSW Property and Liability Discussion Group
- Law Society of NSW