---
title: "Check a Queensland failure-to-warn allegation against obvious risk"
url: "https://ailawframework.com/practice/personal-injury-and-compensation/check-a-failure-to-warn-allegation-against-the-obvious-risk-limit/queensland"
type: "task_jurisdiction_version"
site: "AI Law Framework"
id: "A21-SB20261022-7-QLD"
practice_area: "Personal Injury & Compensation (workers compensation, CTP/TAC, medical negligence)"
tier: "yellow"
lawyer_review: "required"
jurisdictions: ["QLD"]
last_reviewed: "2026-10-25"
---

# Check a Queensland failure-to-warn allegation against obvious risk

> From the failure-to-warn allegation and the risk description, build a table against Civil Liability Act ss 13 and 15.…

Canonical page: https://ailawframework.com/practice/personal-injury-and-compensation/check-a-failure-to-warn-allegation-against-the-obvious-risk-limit/queensland  
Last reviewed: 2026-10-25

Site index for agents: https://ailawframework.com/llms.txt

## Key facts

| Fact | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Practice area | [Personal Injury & Compensation (workers compensation, CTP/TAC, medical negligence)](https://ailawframework.com/practice/personal-injury-and-compensation.md) |
| Human involvement | Yellow: Lawyer and AI draft together |
| How AI is used | From the failure-to-warn allegation and the risk description, build a table against Civil Liability Act ss 13 and 15. Record whether the risk is said to be obvious, and whether the plaintiff requested advice, a written law required a warning, or the defendant is a professional other than a doctor. Do not decide whether a duty to warn was owed. |
| What the lawyer must review | Decide whether s 15 applies and whether any s 15(2) exception is made out. A doctor is outside the professional exception. The note to s 15 points to s 21. Section 13(5): a maintenance failure is not an obvious risk unless that failure itself is obvious. The lawyer writes any pleading or advice. |
| Written for | Queensland |
| Applies to | [Check a failure-to-warn allegation against the obvious-risk limit](https://ailawframework.com/practice/personal-injury-and-compensation/check-a-failure-to-warn-allegation-against-the-obvious-risk-limit.md) |

## Checking plan

**Verify against sources**

The Queensland limit is s 15, read with the s 13 definition. The lawyer decides if it applies.

- What the AI does: From the failure-to-warn allegation and the risk description, build a table against Civil Liability Act ss 13 and 15. Record whether the risk is said to be obvious, and whether the plaintiff requested advice, a written law required a warning, or the defendant is a professional other than a doctor. Do not decide whether a duty to warn was owed.
- What the lawyer does: Make the legal assessment, check the source material and authorise the output for its intended use.
- Who reviews: Lawyer competent in this practice area
- Basis: Checked against the linked sources on 23 October 2026. Confirm the current instrument before reliance.

## Checks the lawyer makes

1. State the risk in the words of the allegation.
2. Apply the s 13 features: patent or common knowledge, low probability, and a risk that is not prominent.
3. Check each s 15(2) exception separately, and do not treat s 15(2) as creating a presumption of a duty.
4. If the harm is a work injury or a dust-related condition, check s 5 before using these sections.

## Notes

- Section 16 is a different rule: no liability for the materialisation of an inherent risk, and it does not exclude a duty to warn.
- Section 14 is a presumption of awareness where voluntary assumption of risk is pleaded. It is not itself the failure-to-warn limit.
- If the product is used in a Supreme Court submission, Practice Direction 5 of 2025 requires the named practitioner to verify every reference. District Court Practice Direction 12 of 2025 is the matching direction opened for that court.

## Practical guide

Jurisdiction: Queensland claim to which Civil Liability Act 2003 chapter 2 applies

**Deliverable**: An obvious-risk table for the lawyer's advice or pleading check.

**Inputs**

- The failure-to-warn allegation
- Description of the risk and the circumstances
- Whether the defendant is a doctor or another professional
- Any request for advice, or any written law said to require a warning

**Example**: Illustrative example: The allegation is that no sign warned of a wet floor. The table records the risk and leaves obviousness undecided. It does not delete the allegation.

**Stop and escalate when**

- Section 5 may exclude the Act.
- The defendant is a doctor and s 21 has not been read.

Checked 2026-10-23.

## Sources

- [Civil Liability Act 2003 (Qld) s 13](https://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/qld/consol_act/cla2003161/s13.html) (checked 2026-10-23)
- [Civil Liability Act 2003 (Qld) s 15](https://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/qld/consol_act/cla2003161/s15.html) (checked 2026-10-23)
- [Civil Liability Act 2003 (Qld) s 14](https://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/qld/consol_act/cla2003161/s14.html) (checked 2026-10-23)
- [Civil Liability Act 2003 (Qld) s 16](https://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/qld/consol_act/cla2003161/s16.html) (checked 2026-10-23)
- [Civil Liability Act 2003 (Qld) s 5](https://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/qld/consol_act/cla2003161/s5.html) (checked 2026-10-23)

*Practice guidance for planning and review. Confirm current primary sources and the requirements of the actual matter. This is general information, not legal advice.*