Top 10 Insurance Headlines from Asia Pacific Mr Perera’s employer leased and occupied the fifth floor of a building. The leased premises included a common area immediately in front of shopfronts forming the façade of the ground floor of the building. The New South Wales Workers Compensation Commission recently considered a case regarding a claim for workers compensation by an employee, Camilla Scharrer (Ms Scharrer) who suffered severe injuries in a motor vehicle accident. The Supreme Court of the ACT recently considered the operation and interpretation of a perils exclusion and accidental damage clause in an Industrial Special Risks (ISR) insurance policy (policy) issued by Suncorp Metway Insurance Ltd (Suncorp). Strategic Property Holdings No 3 Pty Ltd (Strategic) was the insured under the policy. The recent decision of the New South Wales Court of Appeal in Rail Corporation New South Wales v Fluor Australia Pty Ltd & Alpcross Pty Ltd [2009] NSWCA 344 provides a useful example of the duties owed between contracting parties to each other. Section 15 of the Insurance Contracts Act 1984 (Cth) provides that a contract to which the Act applies is not capable of being made the subject of relief, under any other Act, in the form of judicial review on the ground that the contract is “harsh, oppressive, unconscionable, unjust, unfair or inequitable”. On 1 September 2009 the Insurance Regulation 2004 (NSW) (Regulation) was repealed and replaced with the Insurance Regulation 2009 (NSW). The new provisions have significant implications for providers of reinsurance, and brings NSW in line with other State and Commonwealth insurance legislation concerning reinsurance. In a recent landmark decision, the High Court has determined that head contractors have no common law duty of care to train their subcontractors in the safe methods of carrying out their respective specialist tasks. Leave to appeal was sought from an Arbitrator’s decision in the Workers Compensation Commission (Commission) by the appellant, Mr Lawrence-Plant (Appellant). The Northern Territory Court of Appeal recently reviewed the Wayne Tank principle in a case where the loss resulted from more than one cause. The Insurance Amendment Regulations 2009 (No.1) (Regulations) were released on 29 October 2009. | 
