27/06/2022
Pressuring Queenslanders into making personal injury compensation claims through so called ‘claim farming’ is now banned under new laws.
“Claim farmers cold call or approach individuals to coerce them into making a personal injury or workers’ compensation claim and then charge a fee to ‘sell’ their claim to a legal practitioner or other claims management service providers,” the Attorney said.
“The new laws stamp out this practice by prohibiting anyone from approaching another person without their consent and soliciting or inducing them to make a claim.
“It is also now an offence to pay claim farmers for the details of potential claimants, or to receive payment for a claim referral.”
“However, due to the success of the reforms, the claim farming industry has pivoted to new types of personal injury claims with reports that claim farmers are targeting personal injury claims, including those involving institutionalised child sexual abuse, and workers’ compensation claims.
“These new laws address this by prohibiting claim farming and breaking the nexus between claim farmers and legal practices by requiring law practices to certify that claims they are representing have not been farmed.”
“Queensland is the only jurisdiction in Australia to offer broad ranging statutory terminal compensation of this nature.
“The Workers’ Compensation Regulator also has expanded compliance and enforcement powers to effectively prosecute claim farming offences, and these are consistent across the schemes, ensuring there are no weak points to be exploited by claim farmers.”
The new laws will not affect the rights of genuinely injured Queenslanders to access justice.
“The new laws will, however, prevent claimants or potential claimants from being incentivised, harassed, and induced into making a claim by a claim farmer who will receive payment for the referral.
“The laws remove the financial incentive for claim farmers to harass Queenslanders and ensure the justice system is not burdened by the cost of unnecessary personal injury and workers’ compensation claims.”
Source: The Queensland Cabinet and Ministerial Directory.