Carla Turner

Carla is an experienced litigation lawyer. Her experience includes commercial and insurance litigation. Carla has undertaken two secondments, a commercial litigation secondment with a large advertising company and an insurer secondment within the financial lines team of a large international insurer. Carla advises local and global insurers on professional indemnity claims, coverage issues, directors and officers claims and class actions.

Experience

Professional Indemnity

Carla has spent a significant part of her career defending professional indemnity claims against lawyers. She has also acted in a variety of other professional indemnity claims for financial (brokers, accountants, auditors) and construction professionals, including:

• Advising a solicitor in a highly publicised litigation regarding the fraudulent conduct of one its employees;
• Advising a solicitor with respect to a Joint Venture Agreement pertaining to a large construction project, whereby the equity buy back and payment equations within the joint venture agreement, governing the joint venture partner’s financial contribution, were allegedly drafted incorrectly and the meaning of which was incorrectly conveyed to the client amounting to alleged losses in excess of $500 million;
• Acting for solicitors who were accessorily liable and or participated in a breach of the second limb of Barnes v Addy (1874) LR CH Ap 244 for perpetuating their clients breach of directors’ duties regarding advice given as to the distribution of funds payable under a Keyman Insurance Policy;
• Advising for a solicitor who was alleged to have been negligent in advice provided to their clients with respect to entering into a particularly unusual mortgage scheme which involved onerous repayment terms and ultimately significant losses to the clients, in that they were not made aware of the effect of such terms. This matter involved issues of penumbral duty of care; and
• Providing indemnity advice regarding the denial of a claim for a solicitor, on the basis that the allegations related to losses pertaining to a company for which the solicitor was also a director.

Directors and Officers

Carla has varied experience in Directors and Officers claims and often draws on her experience gained on secondment to a global insurer when advising on the claims, as she has an acute awareness of what her clients need.

• Managing numerous ASIC enquiries / examinations against directors and senior managers of a publicly listed company arising out of an insolvency dispute;
• Advising for directors in relation to unfair preference claims under management liability policies; and
• Advising a number of insurer clients in litigated and non-litigated coverage disputes involving issues of correct policy interpretation and non-disclosure connected to the financial services Royal Commission.

Class Actions

Carla has been involved in numerous class action proceedings, including:

• Acting as coverage and monitoring counsel in various matters arising from the Hayne Royal Commission;
• Acting as coverage counsel for a defendant to the 2011 Brisbane Floods Class Action;
• Acting for an Australian collection agency in the defence of a securities class action in the Federal Court of Australia; and
• Advising on behalf of an ASX listed company in respect of 2 related share-holder class action claims in excess of $100M in both the Federal Court of Australia and the Supreme Court of New South Wales.

Defamation

Carla has significant technical expertise in this niche area of the law gained through matters including:

• Advising a solicitor who was alleged to have defamed a member of a Strata Scheme in the provision of legal advice to the Strata Scheme regarding conduct deemed to be in breach of the by laws by a lot owner; and
• Providing general advice as to liability exposure arising from numerous defamation claims.