In this episode of P.I. Case Note, accident legal partner and expert personal injury lawyer Michelle Wright examines the Queensland Supreme Court’s decision in Wallace v Caesarstone Australia Pty Ltd [2025] QSC 219, which delivers a powerful rebuke to defendants attempting to stall silicosis compensation claim delays through procedural non-compliance. The case involved Mr Wallace, a stonemason who contracted terminal silicosis from exposure to engineered stone dust between 2006 and 2018, and whose expedited trial application exposed the defendants’ 18-month failure to provide independent medical examination panels—missing the court-ordered deadline by over a year despite having ample time to comply.
The Court’s scathing analysis reveals judicial intolerance for silicosis compensation claim delays caused by defendant neglect rather than legitimate complexity. Despite the defendants’ explanations about document volumes, overseas locations, and non-English materials, the Court found no justification for their failure to provide IME panels by the February 2024 deadline. The defendants’ submission that there was “no relative urgency” given Mr Wallace’s 34-year life expectancy was dismissed as “disingenuous”—the Court emphasising that damages would provide treatment and comfort during his lifetime with a terminal disease. Most significantly, the Court rejected the defendants’ argument that this matter should wait behind other engineered stone cases on Justice Freeburn’s supervised case list, stating that Mr Wallace was “a citizen who had come to court seeking to enforce his rights” and had complied with court rules, making other cases irrelevant to his entitlement to trial. The Court found the defendants facing trial without expert evidence on liability, injury, or quantum “as a product of their own neglect” and ordered the matter proceed expeditiously, though noting defendants could still apply for leave to tender late expert evidence.
Listen for Michelle Wright’s comprehensive analysis of this important decision on silicosis compensation claim delays and its implications for engineered stone litigation. If you’re suffering from silicosis or other work-related lung diseases and facing defendant delays in your compensation claim, the experienced team at accident legal knows how to push cases forward when defendants drag their feet. As Queensland’s trusted personal injury lawyers, we understand the urgency of terminal illness claims and won’t let procedural games delay your access to justice and compensation. Contact us for a free consultation on (07) 3740 0200. We’ll fight to expedite your silicosis claim and hold defendants accountable for unreasonable delays.
