High Court Chief Justice Murray Gleeson says plaintiff lawyers have “pushed the envelope” in mounting lawsuits. His comments, generally supportive of tort reform, follow reservations expressed over the past year by several state chief justices.

In an interview in the Australian Financial Review, Justice Gleeson says plaintiff lawyers have been more likely sue since governments across Australia capped the liabilities of certain types of defendants, including employers.

“Some tort lawyers point to the fact that the success rate of plaintiffs in recent years has fallen,” he said. “Well, it may be that in recent years plaintiffs’ lawyers have been pushing the envelope.”

Justice Gleeson says the result of this is that plaintiff lawyers “are now looking for other people to sue”.

He says lawyers exploring new areas are more likely to “bump up against a level of judicial resistance than if you are applying well-established principles to cases”.