PUBLIC LIABILITY

Public liability insurance has been a headline item in Australia for most of this year. Businesses and organizations are struggling to obtain public liability cover at an affordable level, if at all, and some are faced with the prospect of operating without it. Such a decision should be made only with a full understanding of the potential commercial consequences of not having this kind of protection.

What should be made clear in making such a decision is that Australian society has become more litigious in recent years. Many people take the view that if a bad thing happens to them, it must be somebody else’s fault and somebody else should be made to pay.

It is no possible to give an all-encompassing description of all situations in which companies, or organizations will incur liability of the type covered by public liability insurance. It would be difficult enough trying to do this for a specific business.

-You have a duty of care to the plaintiff
-You breach that duty
-The plaintiff suffers loss or damage as a result of the breach
-The loss or damage was reasonably foreseeable

A duty of care can arise through your ownership or occupation of premises, through your conducting an event or a particular business, and through the actions of your employees, officers, or agents.

The High Court was asked recently to consider whether the operator of an indoor cricket center was liable to a player who lost the sight in one eye after a ball came of the top edge of the bat and hit him in the eye.

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Source: “Business” July 2002

公共责任

    公共责任保险在今年的大部分时间里一直成为澳洲的头条新闻。各企业和机构纷纷在尽可能负担的程度上设法投保公共责任保险，但也有一些企业和机构面临没有公共责任保险的经营前景。做出这种决定的前提应该只有一个，即充分理解了如果没有这种保护可能会在商业上带来什么潜在的后果。

    做出这种决定时应该搞清楚的是，近年来澳大利亚社会变得越来越好打官司了。许多人认为一旦自己遭遇不幸，肯定是别人的过错造成的，因此别人应作出赔偿。

    公司或机构可能会招致公共责任保险所涵盖的那种责任的情形多种多样，要全面描述所有这些情形是不可能的。哪怕是对于某一特定企业，试图这样做也是非常困难的。

----你对原告有照顾的责任
----你没有履行这个责任
----原告因你没有履行责任而遭受损失或损害。
----该损失或损害能够合理的被预见。

    照顾的责任可产生于以下几种情形：你是经营场所的所有人或占有人；你从事某种活动或某种特殊的行业；你的雇员、官员或代理人的所作所为。

    最近有人请求最高法院裁决一起纠纷，内容是某室内板球中心的经营者是否应对打球人的受伤事件负责：一只球从球板的顶边飞出，正好打中该打球人的眼睛，使其一只眼失明。