VIC Support After Injuries During Car Accident?

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Andy Keogh

Member
10 January 2018
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0
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The situation:

My daughter was involved in a car accident, in which she was a passenger, on December 26th 2017. She is a British Citizen residing in Melbourne while studying Business Management on a Student visa, allowing her 20 hours of paid employment per week as a Personal Training.

She sustained a fractured pelvis/sacrum and shattered coccyx in the crash and has been advised to do very little, except prescribed physical therapy exercises, for three months. She has been told that full recovery could take nine months.

Unwisely, but with typical stubbornness, she checked out of the hospital after only six days. Although she usually has flat-mates, they are all away visiting family over the Christmas period and the first to return gets back to Melbourne on 20th January. She is finding it very difficult to cope, even with simple shopping, and had another heavy fall at home that required another trip to the hospital.

She is panicking about money and her studies. We have sent over some money to tide her over but then received bad news from Kenya that her maternal grandfather died on 4th January this year. This has incurred further unexpected costs for us to send her mother back to Kenya for the funeral.

My daughter seems overwhelmed by the situation and is threatening to go back to work so that she can afford to stay in Australia without draining our limited funds. Obviously, this could be very detrimental to her recovery and could compound her injuries with life-changing results.

The questions:

As a passenger who has been severely injured in a car crash, what recourse does she have as to insurance support so that she can remain in Australia until such time that she is allowed to travel back to Scotland or, preferably continue her studies?

She is adamant that there is no cover for: Loss of Earnings, Living Expenses, Pain & Suffering or "Lump Sum Compensation" and insists that she will have to reimburse some of the medical fees not fully covered by Medicare. Is this correct?

Can someone suggest a reliable Legal Firm that I can contact on her behalf?

Am I allowed to seek help on behalf of a 25-year-old daughter?

We are not litigious people but can't see any reason why she, or ultimately we, her parents, should be liable for untold expenses through no fault of our daughter.
 

Clancy

Well-Known Member
6 April 2016
973
69
2,289
There are a lot of law firms in Australia specializing in compensation claims. I see their adds on TV all the time. Some of them say 'no win, no fee'...

The advantage of 'no win no fee' is that it gives you some more confidence that your case is strong, because otherwise they would not want to take the case. Whereas a lawyer who is not do no win no fee can tell you anything still knowing he gets paid no matter what happens! But 'no win, no fee' does not cover you for the other sides legal costs if you lost the case.