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Public liability in Australia, explained

Public liability is personal injury law's catch-all category. It covers injuries you suffer because of someone else's negligence in a place that isn't a road or a workplace. Think shopping centres, cafés, sports venues, hotels, gyms, footpaths, parks, private homes (when you've been invited), and accidents caused by defective products or by attacking dogs.

Common public liability claims

• Slip, trip and fall injuries: Wet floors, damaged carpets, uneven surfaces, poor lighting, missing handrails.
• Footpath and council claims: Damaged footpaths, hazards in parks, inadequate signage, council-managed property.
• Dog attacks: Council or owner liability for unrestrained or known-aggressive dogs.
• Shopping centre and retail injuries: Falling stock, malfunctioning escalators, spills.
• Defective products: Faulty appliances, contaminated food, unsafe vehicles, poorly designed furniture.
• Sports and recreation: Injuries at gyms, theme parks, sporting venues, where reasonable safety wasn't provided.
• Holiday and travel injuries: Hotel, resort, cruise and tour accidents (subject to choice-of-law issues).

Civil Liability Acts: state-by-state

Public liability is governed by each state's Civil Liability Act (or equivalent), which caps general damages (pain and suffering), applies impairment thresholds, and shapes the types of recoverable losses. The same injury can be worth materially different amounts in different states. A lawyer in the state where your accident happened can explain the specific rules that apply.

Public liability payout ranges by venue and cause

Public liability damages are calculated head-by-head: past and future economic loss, medical and care costs, gratuitous and paid care, and (subject to state Civil Liability Act caps) general damages for pain and suffering. Ranges below combine the typical mix for each scenario, drawn from published settlements and decided cases.

Slip, trip and fall

• Supermarket slip on wet floor (minor injury): $15,000–$80,000. Soft tissue, full recovery in 6-12 months.
• Supermarket slip with fracture or surgery: $80,000–$400,000. Wrist, hip, ankle fractures with ORIF surgery.
• Shopping centre slip with permanent restriction: $150,000–$700,000. Chronic pain, loss of work capacity.
• Footpath trip (council claim): $20,000–$250,000. Subject to council notice provisions; older claimants with hip fractures sit at the higher end.
• Restaurant or café slip: $25,000–$200,000. Spilled drink, polished floor, inadequate signage.
• Defective stairs or balcony fall: $80,000–$1,500,000+. Spinal injury cases run into millions.

Dog attacks

Most state Dog Acts impose strict liability on owners - you don't have to prove negligence, just that the dog attacked. Council liability arises where a known dangerous dog wasn't restrained or a complaint wasn't actioned.

• Dog bite with stitches, no permanent scar: $10,000–$40,000.
• Dog attack with facial scarring (adult): $50,000–$300,000. Scarring on face attracts higher general damages.
• Dog attack on a child with facial scarring: $80,000–$500,000+. Lifetime impact and pediatric reconstruction surgery.
• Severe dog mauling (multiple wounds, surgery, PTSD): $200,000–$800,000+.
• Loss of sight or limb amputation from attack: $400,000–$2,000,000+.

Defective products and Australian Consumer Law

Defective product claims can run under both common-law negligence and the Australian Consumer Law (Part 3-5 product safety provisions). ACL claims have specific advantages - strict liability and broader recoverable losses.

• Faulty appliance fire causing burns: $50,000–$600,000. Burns severity and skin grafting drive amounts.
• Contaminated food (food poisoning): $5,000–$80,000. Hospitalisation, time off work, ongoing GI issues.
• Defective vehicle component (Takata airbag-style): $100,000–$1,500,000+. Severe injury cases multi-million.
• Children's product injury (toy, cot, pram): $30,000–$500,000+. Brain injury and asphyxiation cases highest.
• Pharmaceutical or medical device defect: $80,000–$2,000,000+. Often run as class actions.

School and childcare

Schools and childcare providers owe a high duty of care. Limitation periods are extended for child claimants (typically until 21st birthday or 6 years after age of majority).

• Schoolyard injury (inadequate supervision): $30,000–$200,000.
• School sports injury (no proper risk management): $50,000–$400,000.
• Childcare injury with permanent harm: $80,000–$600,000+.
• Bullying with psychological injury (where school failed to act): $50,000–$300,000+.

Hotel, Airbnb and travel

• Hotel pool injury: $30,000–$500,000+. Drowning and brain injury cases highest.
• Balcony or stairway fall: $80,000–$2,000,000+. Spinal injury cases multi-million.
• Bedbug or mould injury: $5,000–$60,000.
• Cruise ship injury (subject to maritime conventions): Variable; often capped under international convention.

Aged care and disability care

• Pressure injury (grade 3-4, preventable): $50,000–$400,000.
• Fall with fracture in residential care: $80,000–$400,000.
• Wandering / elopement injury: $50,000–$500,000.
• Sexual assault in care (institutional liability): $200,000–$1,500,000+. Subject to specific National Redress Scheme considerations.

Catastrophic public liability

• Spinal injury with paraplegia: $3,000,000–$8,000,000+.
• Spinal injury with quadriplegia: $5,000,000–$15,000,000+.
• Severe traumatic brain injury: $3,000,000–$12,000,000+.
• Multiple amputation: $1,500,000–$6,000,000+.

Real published public liability settlements

Real cases settled by Australian plaintiff law firms. Anonymised by the firm at publication; case facts and dollar amounts are as published, with each settlement linked to the firm's case-results page so the figures are independently verifiable.

• WA wedding venue, severe ankle fracture/dislocation from staircase fall: $225,000 (2016) (as published in Australian plaintiff law firm case-results listings).
• WA child (11), eye injury at a friend's home, lost sight: $400,000 (as published in Australian plaintiff law firm case-results listings).
• WA farm worker struck by tractor, pelvis and leg injuries: $750,000 (as published in Australian plaintiff law firm case-results listings).
• NSW industrial cleaner, severe electric shock: $1,250,000 (as published in Australian plaintiff law firm case-results listings).
• WA security guard injured by a patron: $525,000 (as published in Australian plaintiff law firm case-results listings).
• NSW gym equipment flip, facial injuries: $360,000 (as published in Australian plaintiff law firm case-results listings).
• TAS pedestrian tripped on fire hydrant cover, foot fracture: $196,000 (as published in Australian plaintiff law firm case-results listings).
• Sydney public space sinkhole / broken concrete, spinal surgery: $2,000,000 (as published in Australian plaintiff law firm case-results listings).
• Hospital slip post-surgery, mobility loss + diabetes + psychiatric injury: $500,000 (as published in Australian plaintiff law firm case-results listings).
• Sydney footpath jogger, trip on raised concrete: $400,000 (as published in Australian plaintiff law firm case-results listings).
• Shopping centre carpark, 72-year-old slipped on painted arrow, knee fracture: $250,000 (as published in Australian plaintiff law firm case-results listings).
• Coffee shop chair leg slipped, spinal fusion required: $210,000 (as published in Australian plaintiff law firm case-results listings).

Civil Liability Act caps and thresholds by state

Each state caps general damages (pain and suffering) and applies impairment thresholds to specific heads of damage. Public liability claims for the same injury settle for materially different amounts in different states.

• NSW - Civil Liability Act 2002. General damages capped at ~$700k (CPI-indexed) for the most extreme case; sliding scale below 15% impairment.
• VIC - Wrongs Act 1958. Requires "significant injury" threshold (5% AMA whole-person impairment for physical, 10% for psychiatric). General damages capped.
• QLD - Civil Liability Act 2003. Injury Scale Value (ISV): each injury rated 0-100, ISV translates to a defined dollar bracket. Pre-court offer protocol mandatory.
• WA - Civil Liability Act 2002. General damages capped; reforms for catastrophic injury claims.
• SA - Civil Liability Act 1936. Caps non-economic loss; impairment threshold applies to some heads.
• TAS - Civil Liability Act 2002. NSW-style model with state-specific caps.
• ACT - Civil Law (Wrongs) Act 2002.
• NT - Personal Injuries (Liabilities and Damages) Act 2003.

What heads of damage cover in a public liability claim

Most successful claims include several of these. A typical mid-range claim of $200,000 might break down as $60k past loss of income, $60k future loss of income, $30k medical and care, $40k general damages, $10k modifications.

• Past economic loss - income lost from injury date to settlement.
• Future economic loss - income lost from settlement to retirement age, discounted to present value.
• Past and future medical/treatment costs - surgery, rehab, physiotherapy, medications.
• Gratuitous attendant care - care provided by family members, valued at commercial rates (subject to Civil Liability Act thresholds).
• Paid attendant care and case management - for serious injury claimants.
• General damages (pain and suffering) - capped by state Civil Liability Act.
• Modifications - home, vehicle, accommodation modifications; equipment and technology aids.