Ewan v Miskin Hill CTS 29107 & Anor
[2024] QSC 306 · Sullivan J
Kim Ewan owned a unit in Toowong and said she was injured when she slipped and fell in a common area of the unit block in March 2022. She brought a personal injury claim against the body corporate (the first respondent) and later tried to add the body corporate's management company (the second respondent) using the pre-court notice procedures in the Personal Injuries Proceedings Act. The management company argued it had never been properly brought into the claim because the contribution notice was served late and the claim notice was deficient. The court found the contribution notice was indeed out of time, and that the formal route to add the company as a respondent was not available. However, the court held that simply serving the claim notice triggered the company's duty to respond. Because the company chose not to respond, the law conclusively presumed it accepted the notice was valid. The court therefore declared the company a respondent and ordered it to provide its formal response by 30 January 2025.
Incident & injury
Slip and fall in the common area of a unit block
- Incident date
- 4 March 2022
- Location
- Miskin Street, Toowong
Quick facts
- Date of judgment
- 13 December 2024
- Claim type
- PIPA Public Liability
- Proceeding
- Interlocutory
- Plaintiff outcome
- Successful
- Plaintiff age at injury
- Occupation
- Not stated
Outcome
Sullivan J declared that the second respondent (body corporate manager) is conclusively presumed under s 13 PIPA to be satisfied that the applicant's Part 1 notice served on 30 July 2024 is compliant, having failed to respond under s 10. Although the first respondent's contribution notice was found invalid (served out of time) and s 14(1)/r 7(1)(c) was not engaged, the separate Part 1 notice service on the second respondent triggered s 10 obligations which were not met.
Key issues
Ewan v Miskin Hill CTS 29107 & Anor [2024] QSC 306
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