Tanya Smart

Tanya is an insurance specialist and an Accredited Specialist in Personal Injury Law. For over 25 years, she has worked with insurers and self-insured corporations to resolve CTP and public liability claims, including major and catastrophic claims. She has a particular interest in defending fraudulent and farmed claims, including staged accidents, phantom passengers, fabricated injuries, fabricated economic loss claims and fraudulently claimed treatment.

Tanya has defended claims involving complex insurance indemnity issues, dual insurance, nervous shock, compensation to relatives claims, multi-defendant matters with cross-claims, detailed quantum calculations, and administrative law challenges to decisions of Members and Medical Assessors of the Personal Injury Commission. Tanya has deepened her knowledge of administrative law through her pro bono practice in judicial review of decisions of tribunals of the Federal Government concerning asylum seekers.

Tanya has defended cases related to accidents which have occurred in most states and territories within Australia as well as in the UK, requiring knowledge of the damages regimes in those jurisdictions. She has acted in actions for recovery of damages from interstate insurers by TAC and the NT MACC.

She has acted as an advocate at numerous assessment conferences conducted by Members of the Personal Injury Commission, and has appeared in the District, Supreme and Federal Courts, as well as in the NSW Court of Appeal, where her cases have set useful precedents for her insurer clients.