As June wears on and more businesses find it impossible to obtain liability insurance, the industry is beginning to sustain battle damage. Some sections of the media – particularly elements of the electronic media – are finding plaintiff lawyers’ viewpoints impossible to resist.

On Sunday night Channel 9’s “60 Minutes” weighed in with an uncritical free kick for plaintiff lawyers who disputed ICA Executive Director Alan Mason’s defence of the industry’s approach to liability insurance.

Many industry figures contacted yesterday said they found the report heavily biased in favour of the lawyers’ point of view. One broker said that even as the insurers are making his life very difficult during the renewals period, “you would have expected a bit more balance than 60 Minutes bothered to dish up. They accepted the lawyers’ statements that the insurers are a pack of liars without comment or question.”

The report came hot on the heels of a front-page report in Melbourne’s Herald Sun which reported that Allianz demanded money from the family of a dead teenager to pay for damage to the car that killed her. Allianz apologised to the family and blamed the error on its claims department.

But other companies say this is standard industry practice. For instance, a woman whose husband was killed in identical circumstances 18 months ago received a damages demand for $2500 and paid it.

And there’s a reason. Someone has to pay for the damage to the car, and a standard household contents policy will cover it. Liability cover extends to provide cover anywhere in Australia for the policyholder, his/her family “and servants”.