On 23 May 2008, the Full Court of the South Australia Court of
Appeal handed down judgment in the long running saga of QBE
Insurance Limited v Nguyen.
Doyle CJ, Gray J and Layton J unanimously dismissed QBE's
appeal and held that QBE was required to indemnify the bankrupt
estate of its insured such that the plaintiff was entitled to
recover from QBE the judgment he obtained by default against
QBE's insured.
Consideration was given to what is necessary to establish a
'legal liability' and also whether the event giving rise to
the plaintiff's injury was an 'occurrence in connection
with' the insured's business.
Background
In 1995 the then 20 year old plaintiff, Mr Nguyen, was attacked
and stabbed with a knife, rendering him paraplegic. The attack
happened when the plaintiff was leaving a function. The organisers
of the function had hired a security firm run by Mr Hiotis to
provide security.
