What it does
The Personal Injuries (Liabilities and Damages) Act 2003 (NT) is a comprehensive reforming statute that overlays the common law of tort and certain statutory causes of action with a suite of liability exclusions, evidentiary presumptions, damages caps, and procedural mechanisms. At its core, the Act modifies the entitlement to damages for personal injuries (defined broadly in s 3(1) to include fatal, prenatal, psychological, disease and aggravation injuries), clarifies principles of contributory negligence, imposes caps and structured settlement options, and—through later insertions—establishes a distinct liability regime for institutions in respect of child abuse and a restrictive trust regime for damages awarded to offenders.
Part 2, Division 1 provides liability shields. Section 7 protects volunteers performing community work (defined expansively in s 7(7) to cover religious, charitable, sporting, environmental and political purposes, but excluding court-ordered community work) from personal civil liability if acting in good faith and without recklessness; the community organisation (including Territory agencies) assumes that liability. Section 7A extends similar protection to donors of food or grocery products donated for charitable purposes if the donor ensures the item was safe at the point of donation and gives handling instructions. Section 8 protects good Samaritans rendering emergency assistance (including medical advice) in good faith. Sections 9 and 10 exclude liability where the injured person enters premises or suffers injury while committing an imprisonable offence and that conduct materially contributed to the risk (subject to an exceptional-circumstances override in s 10(2)).
Division 2 (ss 11–13) facilitates expressions of regret. An expression of regret—defined in s 12 as a statement expressing regret for an incident without admitting fault—is inadmissible in subsequent proceedings (s 13), achieving the purpose stated in s 11 of encouraging apologies without fear of it being construed as an admission.