Vicarious trauma in the judicial workplace: state liability for judicial psychiatric injury in Australia.

There is developing, yet strong, evidence that judicial officers are seriously affected by exposure to traumatic material. The risk and prevalence of psychiatric injury to judges is now increasingly recognised. In the light of growing recognition by the High Court of Australia of the likelihood of psychiatric harm arising in people whose work exposes them to traumatic material in Kozarov v Victoria ('Kozarov'), we investigate through legal analysis the possibility that judicial officers may be entitled to compensation for such harm. This might seem straightforward after the High Court decided in Kozarov that the State was liable in negligence for trauma-related psychiatric injury to an employee lawyer caused in the court-related work environment. We argue in this article that, while there are strong arguments which support liability in negligence for judicial officers as non-employees, nevertheless such claims will be complex and will face a range of hurdles and barriers including those arising from judicial independence and judicial immunity.

Factors influencing duration of compensation following road traffic crash injury in older vs younger adults.

OBJECTIVE: To identify factors independently associated with late claim closure, a proxy for recovery, in older (65+ years) compared to younger (17-64 years) adults following road traffic crash injury (RTI). METHODS: Multivariable analysis of statewide compensation data from New South Wales (NSW), Australia, for NSW residents aged ≥17 years injured in a non-catastrophic RTI between July 2010 and June 2013 with finalised claims (n = 16 687). RESULTS: Legal representation was the dominant factor independently associated with late claim closure in both age groups. However, the odds were doubly high for the younger group (younger: AOR 8.46, 95% CI 7.7-9.4; older: AOR 3.95, 95% CI 3.1-5.0). Median time to claim closure was shorter for older people. CONCLUSION: Older (and younger) claimants with legal representation are at increased risk of late claim closure and can be readily identified within routinely collected compensation data, enabling delivery of targeted strategies or supports early in the claims process.