Premiums Tipped To Rise
Illawarra Mercury
Tuesday March 25, 2003
REFORMS to Australia's public liability insurance laws would not reduce premium prices or the amount of cover people needed to take out, two industry experts have argued.
Australian National University law professor Jim Davis and Plaintiff Lawyers Association president Rob Davis said the public liability crisis was not a result of an explosion in litigation and massive payouts.
Instead, it was because of movements in the insurance cycle in response to global economic conditions and the heavy taxes imposed by governments on insurance premiums.
Prof Davis said while recent tort law reforms would be ``manna from heaven" for lawyers, he believed they were an ``extremely ill thought-out, knee-jerk reaction to a supposed insurance crisis".
``So as far as I can see, the legislation will do nothing to actually reduce the amount of insurance the providers of recreational services need to take out," he told the Insurance Law & Liability Conference.
``I think it will lead to an increase in the amount of insurance that will need to be taken out in general, and I have no doubt at all it will increase litigation for people who have suffered an injury (from recreational activities)."
© 2003 Illawarra Mercury
Share This