Vanessa joined Lander & Rogers in mid-2021 as a senior associate, working in the Insurance Law & Litigation team. She has significant experience advising insurers on a range of matters, including complex public liability, property damage, product recall and professional liability claims.
Experience
Vanessa has extensive experience in defending varied claims in both private and public sectors across all jurisdictions in New South Wales, including on behalf of owners and occupiers of commercial and residential premises, construction contractors across all levels for injury and property damage claims, health professionals, and gym and recreational activity providers. She has advised insurers on a range of complex indemnity disputes, on various policy types.
Vanessa's areas of expertise include:
- public liability including personal injury, property damage and product liability
- professional negligence including for health professionals, gyms and personal trainers
- policy coverage
Vanessa's experience includes acting for:
- owners and occupiers of commercial premises, including major national retail organisations, involving injuries to patrons and contractors
- major construction contractors defending claims arising from worker to worker injuries on large development sites, usually involving multiple subcontractors
- gym owners and occupiers as well as personal trainers, defending claims arising under both public liability and professional negligence insurance
- strata executive committees defending claims from property owners for damage to individual property arising from common property issues
- physiotherapists and chiropractors, defending medical negligence claims
Career highlights
Vanessa's career highlights include:
- advising on complex personal injury claims in the Supreme Court of NSW
- advising on complex claims involving pure mental harm, on-site fatalities and multi-plaintiff matters
- advising on indemnity and contractual disputes arising out of complex industrial claims involving large scale property damage
- advising on liability and indemnity for multi-national product recall claims
- successfully defending an appeal in the Court of Appeal, and obtaining indemnity costs in the Court below
- successfully defending several claims to hearing arising out of occupiers' liability, and involving consideration of statutory defences for public authorities
- successfully defending a claim arising out of a client insured's alleged failure to properly advise its customers around the risk associated with driving a vehicle which had safety defects, in which the defendant's indemnity costs were successfully recovered
- successfully obtaining judgment on quantum-only disputes, where indemnity costs orders were awarded in her client's favour
- successfully defending a national insurance corporation at the Australian Financial Complaints Authority
- multiple secondments at both public authorities and private insurers, providing valuable insight into clients' drivers