Chris Dennett

Chris has practiced in defence of personal injury claims for fifteen years. Chris has experience in multiple areas of insurance litigation, including workers compensation, employment law, public liability, compulsory third party and commercial debt recovery.

In resolving matters, Chris’ proactive approach is characterised by his strong negotiation skills and focus on achieving commercially sound and timely resolutions on behalf of his clients.

Chris has been recognised in several categories by the Doyle’s Guide in the last two years, most recently as a Preeminent Lawyer in Compulsory Third Party Insurance in the ACT.

Experience

Chris’ experience includes advising:

  • the Law Society of the ACT, numerous plaintiff and defendant firms and all relevant compulsory third party insurers on the commencement of the Motor Accident Injuries Act 2019 (ACT), including co-authoring a paper on the Act which has been widely disseminated;
  • workers compensation insurers on the extent of an employer’s duty of care to an employee (Jancevski v WR Engineering Pty Ltd ATF WR Engineering Trust [2016] ACTMC 8) and the interpretation of journey claims provisions contained within s36 of the Workers Compensation Act 1951 (ACT) (Keiziah Kabutey v QBE Management Services Pty Ltd (WC 385 of 2013));
  • the relevant CTP insurer in Ryan v Bhagria & Anor [2020] ACTSC 353, which was the fifth and final tortious claim pursued by the plaintiff, with the claims heard concurrently. The subject claim involved a low-speed motor vehicle accident. Notwithstanding that liability was admitted, Chris successfully obtained a verdict in favour of the defendants, as the Court was satisfied with reference to the plaintiff’s credibility that no injury, loss or damage had been sustained;
  • a workers compensation insurer in Jason Atherden v Caldipp Pty Ltd [2019] ACTSC 29, a work injury damages claim in which Chris secured a dual insurance agreement with the relevant CTP insurer. The matter proceeded to hearing and the award of damages was far less than the defendants’ mandatory final offer and Calderbank offer, such that the plaintiff was not awarded costs from mid-2016 up until the judgment almost three years later in early-2019; and
  • the relevant CTP insurer in Kyle Brooker v Blocktrans Pty Ltd (2018/00087802), which involved a single vehicle near-miss accident. The plaintiff made a nervous shock claim on the basis of a blameless accident. Chris applied to strike out the claim at first instance, which was unsuccessful. Chris nonetheless subsequently convinced the plaintiff’s counsel in the course of informal negotiations to withdraw the claim.

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