VIC Am I Entitled to a Workcover Claim?

[Sickooli]

No. In public liability personal injury claims you do not get weekly payments. You get a lump sum of money made up from various heads of damage such as:

1. Non economic loss, which is you pain and suffering provided you reach the requisite statutory threshold (what state did the accident occur?);
2. Past and future out of pocket expenses (such as treatment expenses etc);
3. Past and future economic loss; and
4. Past and future domestic care and assistance.

These cases are not easy, but if you do not have a workers compensation claim definately worth looking into given that you have serious injuries which might affect you into the future and in my experience your entitlements are a lot better under common law as opposed to workers compensation.

How did the accident occur? In particular:

1. What caused you to slip?
2. Was it raining on the day and was there water on the porch.
3. Is the porch tiled? What is it made up of?
4. What shoes were you wearing and were they in good condition?
5. Have you been to the porch before?
6 Did you actually slip on the porch or did you mis a step and lose your footing?

Yevgeni

It happened in Victoria, 'cause there was mud on a concrete entrance which other tradesmen left behind. Had to dodge or walk around building materials, it was wet as well. I was in and out of porch for approx 6 days, I was wearing approved boots in near new condition. Basically, I lost my footing from all the other materials that were near by.

 

[Yevgeni]

It happened in Victoria, cause was mud on a concrete entrance which other tradesmen left behind,had to dodge or walk around building materials, it was wet as well. I was in and out of porch for approx 6 days, I was wearing approved boots in near new condition, basically I lost my footing from all the other materials that was near by.

It does not sound like an easy PL claim.

I would speak to a Victorian PI lawyer to see if they are able to assist and make sure that you do it as soon as possible as there is a 3 year time limit to bring a claim in court. However, if the other contractors left the mud on the porch you cannot really expect the owner to go after every contractor and clean up after them every 20 minutes or so.

There would, however, be an obligation on the parties working at the premises to keep walkways clear and free from slip and trip hazards, but then you would have to identify the contractors who are responsible for all the other materials and the deposition of the mud etc (which was probably a combined effort) by the sounds of it.

You should look into the WC issue further with a PI lawyer, as I am not familiar with the VIC WC system.

 

[Sickooli]

It does not sound like an easy PL claim.

I would speak to a Victorian PI lawyer to see if they are able to assist and make sure that you do it as soon as possible as there is a 3 year time limit to bring a claim in court. However, if the other contractors left the mud on the porch you cannot really expect the owner to go after every contractor and clean up after them every 20 minutes or so. There would, however, be an obligation on the parties working at the premises to keep walkways clear and free from slip and trip hazards, but then you would have to identify the contractors who are responsible for all the other materials and the deposition of the mud etc (which was probably a combined effort) by the sounds of it.

You should look into the WC issue further with a PI lawyer, as I am not familiar with the VIC WC system.

Yevgeni

Thank you so much for your help. Take care.