People

Colleen Palmkvist

Colleen Palmkvist Profile Photo
Partner
Colleen Palmkvist Profile Photo

Colleen is an insurance litigation specialist with class action expertise. She is also specially skilled in recoveries and manages a national portfolio of recovery claims for many of the firm's insurer clients.

Experience

Colleen has specialised in insurance law and litigation for 17 years. In that time, Colleen has developed expertise across various service lines including property, recoveries and construction & engineering.

For the past 5 years, Colleen has worked as defence and/or monitoring counsel in class action proceedings concerning the Springwood, Mount Victoria and Currandooley bushfires. She was also recently appointed as defence counsel in the light rail nuisance class action against Transport for NSW in the NSW Supreme Court.

Colleen has a strong technical basis in policy interpretation and regularly advises on complex coverage issues. She is also an experienced and cost-effective defence lawyer and litigator.

Career highlights

Colleen's experience includes:

  • light rail nuisance class action
  • Springwood bushfire class action
  • Mount Victoria bushfire class action
  • Currandooley bushfire class action
  • advising industrial special risk insurers on a large claim concerning damage to North Queensland and Mount Isa to Townsville railway lines and business interruption loss following the Townsville floods
  • advising insurers of Australia’s largest meat processing company on a catastrophic abattoir fire in Murray Bridge SA in January 2018 and investigating recovery
  • advising insurers on policy response and subrogated recovery prospects following damage to turbine components and overhead powerlines at the Coopers Gap Wind Farm in Cooranaga North, Queensland
  • advising industrial special risk insurers on fraud following a fire in a bonded goods warehouse and defending insurers in Supreme Court proceedings for alleged wrongful declinature.

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