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Team Members

Kim Villis

Senior Associate
With over 10 years’ experience in injury litigation focusing on insurance claims, Kim’s excellent technical abilities provide her with a practical edge for her clients.

Kim is a senior associate in Cooper Grace Ward’s insurance team. She is a nominated individual on WorkCover Queensland’s solicitors panel, while also representing self-insurers in respect of their common law claims.

Kim’s experience includes eight years acting for the Queensland Government defending WorkCover common law claims and advising ministers and senior management on legal issues such as litigation arising from public liability claims, anti-discrimination and industrial relations. She has particular experience advising on technical and lengthy claims for purely psychiatric injuries.

Kim’s experience also includes a period at WorkCover itself as a claims manager, as well as acting for individual plaintiffs claiming damages. This combined experience gives her a keen insight into the practical issues facing employers and a well-rounded view of the claims process.

  • Bachelor of Laws (Honours) – Queensland University of Technology
  • Solicitor – Supreme Court of Queensland
  • Member – Women in Insurance.
  • Acting in numerous multi-party claims involving state government employees.
  • Acting in numerous claims relating to pure psychological injury claims.
  • Acting in numerous claims involving the mining industry.
  • Acting on behalf of state government departments and instrumentalities in claims under the Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003 (WCRA).
  • Acting on behalf of insurers and self-insured businesses under the WCRA relating to both statutory and common law claims.
  • Acting on behalf of the State Government in respect of claims made under the Anti-Discrimination Act and representing government departments at conferences and hearings in this jurisdiction.
  • Handling claims involving situations of complex interaction between the WCRA, the Motor Accident Insurance Act 1994 and Personal Injuries Proceedings Act 2002.
  • Investigating and resolving claims involving fraudulent activities.

Areas of Expertise

Publications

Supreme Court disallows injured worker’s claim for counsel’s fees in costs assessment

It has often been assumed that a claimant with an injury resulting in a degree of permanent impairment of 20% or more was entitled to recover counsel’s fees on settlement of a claim, pursuant to the Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation Regulation 2014. However, the Queensland Supreme Court has now definitively held that there is no such entitlement.

Causation – a battle of experts?

The decision is a reminder that the onus is on the injured worker to prove that their work was a ‘significant contributing factor’, not just a mere medical possibility.

QCA confirms school not liable for teacher’s slip on grape

In Deans v Maryborough Christian Education Foundation Ltd [2019] QCA 73, the Court of Appeal has confirmed the trial judge’s decision that a school was not liable for a teacher’s slip on a grape.This win for the employer demonstrates that not every slip and fall at work results in a positive liability case.