Experience & Expertise
Tracy has advised and represented insurers and their clients in a range of contexts. She has acted for both government and commercial insurers, practising extensively in the areas of general liability, (medical) treatment liability, workers compensation and property damage. She has appeared in the Magistrates, District and Supreme Courts, the Conciliation & Arbitration Service (WorkCover), the Compensation Magistrates Court (as it then was, on appeals in workers’ compensation matters) and the State Administrative Tribunal. Tracy has also been involved in coronial inquests and has handled WorkSafe prosecutions.
Tracy has instructed and supervised junior solicitors in the areas of personal injury, general liability, property damage and commercial litigation. She also provides in-house training, continuing professional development, at Moray & Agnew.
Tracy has achieved favourable and early resolution of many claims through detailed ‘Calderbank’ letters setting out the evidence and strengths of her client’s defence. As a result, on a number of occasions, plaintiffs have been persuaded to ‘walk away’.
She has conducted numerous settlement and pre-trial conferences over a 20 year period, achieving favourable resolutions.
Tracy has successfully negotiated settlement in the vast majority of litigated claims she has managed either prior to or at pre-trial conference stage. In many cases, Tracy has persuaded the plaintiff to abandon his/her claim or to release her client from multi-party proceedings.
Tracy has also successfully negotiated costs recovery from plaintiffs on a number of occasions.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
In the early 2000s, Tracy handled a personal accident insurance matter for the Insurance Commission of Western Australia (ICWA). That case was concerned with the question whether the relevant policy operated as a contingency policy or an indemnity policy such that ICWA enjoyed rights of subrogation in respect of payments made to an injured volunteer sea rescue member. ICWA was unsuccessful in pursuing recovery at first instance: ICWA v Kightly [2004] WADC 4; ICWA was successful on appeal to the Court of Appeal: ICWA v Kightly [2005] WASCA 154; ICWA successfully resisted an application for leave to appeal to the High Court.
This case is now a regularly cited authority.
Awards
Ranked in the peer-reviewed Best Lawyers® in Australia list for Personal Injury Litigation 2024
Tracy has run training sessions for claims officers for both government and a commercial insurer (at their request). She has also conducted a seminar for various government agencies on the topic of court practice and procedure.
In 2016, Tracy presented to the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia (IPWEA) on the topic of ‘Utility Asset Damage – Legal Issues Arising’.