Peterkovic v QBE Insurance (Australia) Limited
[2023] QDC 220 · Kent KC DCJ
Candice Peterkovic was injured in a car accident in August 2022 and made a claim for damages against the other driver's insurer, QBE. She said she suffered spinal injuries, a left hip injury, upper limb injuries and a psychological injury, and the insurer admitted liability. After she made a large claim for care and assistance, QBE put her under surveillance and disclosed selected still photographs and a report, suggesting her claim might be exaggerated, but refused to hand over the full 180 minutes of video footage. Peterkovic applied to the court to compel disclosure of the footage. The judge decided the surveillance did not give the insurer reasonable grounds to suspect fraud, and that the insurer had in any case given up its right to withhold the footage by choosing to disclose parts of it. The court ordered QBE to provide the full footage. This was a pre-trial procedural ruling and did not decide her damages.
Incident & injury
Injured as a result of a motor vehicle accident when the other vehicle (insured by the respondent) collided with hers
- Body regions
- Lumbar / thoracic spine, Spine, Left hip, Upper limbs, Psychiatric
- Diagnoses
- Spinal injuries, Left hip injury, Upper limb injuries, Psychological injury
- Incident date
- 26 August 2022
Quick facts
- Date of judgment
- 29 November 2023
- Claim type
- MAIA
- Proceeding
- Interlocutory
- Plaintiff outcome
- Successful
- Plaintiff age at injury
- ~28 (inferred)
- Occupation
- Executive assistant Clerical & Administrative Worker
Outcome
The applicant's interlocutory application succeeded. The court ordered the respondent insurer to disclose 180 minutes of surveillance footage, finding there were no reasonable grounds to suspect fraud and, in any event, the insurer had waived its s 48(3) right of non-disclosure by partially disclosing the material.
Defendant
1 QBE Insurance (Australia) Limited
CTP Insurer
- Judgment against this defendant
- $0
Key issues
Peterkovic v QBE Insurance (Australia) Limited [2023] QDC 220
When typing in a Word document, italicise the case name. The copy button copies plain text suitable for any editor.
Learn more about motor vehicle accident claims in Queensland.