If you Hit Livestock on a Qld Road the Law says you Can’t Claim Injury Compensation

In Queensland there’s a rule established by the decision in Searle v Wallbank, that if you hit, or swerve to avoid a cow, horse, pig or any other type of livestock, straying onto the roadway from a nearby farm, the owner of the animal is not liable for any injury compensation or property damage arising from the motor vehicle accident.

Searle v Wallbank is an old English Court of Appeal decision. It has in more recent times been abolished in the United Kingdom and most Australian States but not in Queensland. What the rule says is that owners and occupiers of land adjoining highways are not obligated to fence or maintain fences, hedges, gates etc. to keep their livestock from straying onto nearby highways and nor do they hold a duty to take reasonable care to prevent their animals from straying onto nearby highways, unless the animal is known to be dangerous.Continue reading→