Insights

Meridian is increasingly receiving enquiries from both health practitioners and service providers seeking advice regarding negative reviews placed online by members of the public. Sometimes the reviews are thought to be unfair and unreasonable, and sometimes they cross over the line and are abusive and defamatory. With the ever increasing reliance on digital marketing and […]

Key takeaways On 18 June 2022, the Veterinary Practice Act 2021 (Act) commenced and the newly appointed members of the Veterinary Practice Board (Board) started their term of office. The Act provides for the regulation of the practice of veterinary medicine in Western Australia and seeks to facilitate the regulation of the practice of veterinary […]

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) introduced the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme in February 2018 (the Scheme). The Scheme serves the dual purpose of enhancing accountability of entities engaging with personal and sensitive information, and arming affected individuals with the necessary information to lessen the severity of a data breach. The Scheme has […]

Key takeaways A health professional will not have breached their duty of care or acted below a requisite standard if they acted in a manner that, at the time the service was provided, was widely accepted by peer professional opinion as competent professional practice. Courts and Tribunals will always be guided by expert opinion on […]

QBE Insurance (Australia) Limited v BB [2022] WASCA 61 Key takeaways An insured will not be in breach of a reasonable precautions condition if they show they did not recognise that a danger existed or that, recognising the existence of a danger, they took action they considered to be adequate to avoid it and were […]

Sidhoum v Minister for Education [2022] WADC 35 Key takeaways A school’s non-delegable duty of care extends to prevent students from engaging in risky behaviour in circumstances where the students should know better. The context of a situation is important when considering reasonable action to be taken in response to a risk. Background Mr Sidhoum […]

Gladstone v Public Transport Authority of Western Australia [2022] WADC 6 Key takeaways A reasonable person in the position of an occupier is only required to take action that is proportional to the risk. A rolled ankle, with minimal loss of function alone is not sufficient for an award of compensation for non-pecuniary loss once […]

Key takeaways For employers or principals, the benefit of following the 4Ps of safe working can never be under estimated: Plan, Prepare, Protect and Proceed. Confirmation of the premise that the principal or main contractors are not expected to supervise or have specialist knowledge of all the specialist trades working on a construction site at […]

Brief Context In Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia v Bergin [2022] VR 4, a registered nurse (Practitioner) was found to have engaged in professional misconduct due to her failure to remain in isolation while awaiting the outcome of a COVID-19 test. Background The Practitioner was employed at a residential aged care facility. By virtue […]

Beri Distributors Pty Ltd v Mossensons Pty Ltd [2022] WADC 30 Key takeaways Professionals are liable to repay fees to their clients in full where the work is of no value at all to the client. Employers are unlikely to be able to recover lost fees from their employees particularly where there is a duty […]