Injury lawyers urge extension on fire compensation claims

It has been revealed that in Australia, the Transport Accident Commission has been urged by injury lawyers to extend is deadline on filing compensation claims related to the Black Saturday bushfires.

The lawyers have asked the organisation to further its end date, so personal injury victims do not miss out.

Twenty one people died in or near cars on Black Saturday 7th February 2009, but many more were injured after their vehicles stopped in the fires and they had to seek shelter.

Under transport accident law, families who died in such circumstances are eligible for TAC compensation, as are people injured in a car accident caused directly by the driving of a motor vehicle.

The law states that claimants must notify the TAC of their claim within a year of a transport accident. It provides the TAC with the discretion to accept a claim for up to three years after the incident, if there are reasonable grounds for delay.

Justice for injury victims

However, injury lawyers feel this current law is no good and have asked the group to extend the time period to a further two years.

John Voyage, Principal of a lawyer firm said: ''But you can never rely on just discretion, because if they just say no, you miss out. This is an entirely different situation to having a car accident today and just letting things drift for 12 months.''

''That individual would generally have support from family or friends or their doctor or someone who would say to them 'you've got to do this'.

''In areas affected by Black Saturday fires, you've got whole communities that have become dislodged and confused. It's such an extreme event that people you normally look to for support have also been involved in the same incident.

''They have all lost their homes - they have all gone and there has been a complete destruction of that support infrastructure for whole communities.''

He pointed out that it was possible some people injured after they fled for their lives and abandoned their vehicles that had stopped in the fires, had not yet made claims and would be affected by the one-year compensation deadline.

However, a spokeswoman for the TAC disagrees with any further extension and feels the commission had provided plenty of opportunities for victims to make claims related to the bushfires.

She said of 35 transport accident claims accepted so far over the bushfires, only one was initially rejected but later accepted.

''There are four claims that are currently being assessed and we understand that a number of people have made inquiries on our claims hotline.

''The TAC also processed funeral claims for 163 people on behalf of the Government and has proactively contacted families where a claim has not been received for TAC benefits,'' she said.


After the Black Saturday fires in Australia ruined hundreds of lives, injury lawyers are urging a claims organisation to extend the deadline made by victims to file compensation claims.