CORONIAL INQUIRIES

Coronial inquiries are ordered with respect to a small number of deaths each year, usually arising when a person dies in custody, in a hospital from an unexpected cause, as a result of police involvement or where the death “appears to have been unexpected, unnatural or violent or to have resulted, directly or indirectly, from injury.

A person can also make a request to the coroner to investigate a particular death.

The purpose of a coronial inquiry is to determine the cause or manner of death and to consider ways in which such deaths can be prevented in the future. A coronial inquiry will not order payments of compensation nor attribute blame in any legal sense (eg. it will not find that a person acted negligently or in breach of any particular law). An inquiry can however, indirectly, serve as a precursor for civil claims or criminal prosecutions.

If you have any questions with respect to a coronial inquiry or potential coronial inquiry, please contact Tim Lethbridge at tim@croftbridge.com.au to discuss.