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Beauty Salon ordered to pay $200,00 in damages to the patient for causing her serious facial burns

Case Overview
  • Our client was a customer of a beauty salon in the western suburbs of Sydney in New South Wales. 
  • As a result of the treatment, she suffered serious facial burns, facial scarring, facial disfigurement, psychological injury, major depression, anxiety, marital and family stress, trauma and shock.
  • GMP helped our client receive $200,000 in damages in compensation.

Our client was a client and customer of a beauty salon in the western suburbs of Sydney, NSW. During a HIFU treatment that was part of a beauty package our client had purchased, she suffered burns to various parts of her head and face.

Apart from serious facial burns, our client suffered facial scarring, facial disfigurement, psychological injury, major depression, anxiety, marital and family stress, trauma and shock.

Her family doctor referred her to a dermatologist for fractional laser treatment to try to assist with the facial scarring. She has been left with permanent scars and discolouration, embarrassment and psychological injury, and a consequential sleep disorder condition. She was advised that she would require plastic surgery in the future to repair the facial defects.

“In this case our client was able to prove that the HIFU treatment performed upon her at their premises was undertaken negligently, and with inadequate precautions and lack of reasonable care, which caused her to suffer serious facial burns and scarring.”

Nassir Bechara
Our Approach

A letter of demand was sent to the owners of the beauty salon. They denied our client’s injury, losses and damage due to her serious facial burns. The medical expert’s advice was that the obvious cause had been the poorly conducted and inappropriate treatment with the HIFU machine at the beauty salon.

We launched legal proceedings against the owners of the beauty salon for negligence in our client’s injuries due to their failure to undertake the HIFU treatment upon our client with adequate precautions and reasonable care to avoid her suffering serious facial burns.

We obtained medical reports from the client’s treating doctors and specialists, as well as medical and liability experts to prove her case. Her injuries and permanent disabilities caused her to suffer a reduced capacity to participate in normal social, domestic, recreational, sporting and family activities. 

The Defendant arranged for our client to be independently medically examined and assessed, however the medical expert evidence determined that she did suffer a serious injury and was suffering ongoing symptoms and impairment as a result of her accident. The Defendant did not serve any medical expert evidence in response to the medical reports to our client’s doctors and specialists’ medical reports.

If you have been injured due to no fault of your own, you should always seek advice from a lawyer about your rights. Speak to one of our expert solicitors at Gerard Malouf & Partners Compensation Lawyers on 1800 004 878 for a free, no-obligation consultation or complete our email enquiry form.

The Result

At the mediation hearing the liability and medical issues were discussed and the Defendant was ordered to pay our client $200,000 in damages by way of compensation for her permanent injuries, losses and damages arising from her serious facial burns suffered whilst undertaking HIFU treatment at the beauty salon premises.

Nassir Bechara

Special Counsel
I strongly recommend Gerard Malouf & Partners for their dedicated client service and expertise. Nassir Bechara particularly supported my claim process with sound advice and compassion. In such a challenging legal process I entrusted him with looking after my best interests and he and his team exceeded well beyond my expectations. Nassir did more than follow a process.
Frequently Asked Questions

More Information

Public liability refers to the responsibilities owners or occupants of public spaces have to protect anyone who enters. If the owners or occupants fall short of these responsibilities, resulting in an injury, a compensation case can be made.

Some of the most common incidents covered by public liability law include:

  • The food or drink from a restaurant makes you sick: The most common example of this type of public liability is food poisoning, however, improperly disclosed allergens could also lead to litigation.
  • A slip and fall accident caused by negligence: Slip and fall incidents are especially common in busy public places such as playgrounds, schools, shopping centres, common walkways in buildings and outdoor event venues. They can result from negligent behaviour if poorly lit, uneven, unmarked or slippery surfaces are involved, amongst other reasons.
  • Injury caused by poor workmanship: If a product used by a space fails mechanically and causes an injury, a public liability claim can often be made. Examples include exploding gas bottles, poorly constructed furnishings and inadequate building structures. These cases may also be eligible for product liability litigation if you decide to pursue both the property owner and the product manufacturer.
  • An attack by an animal while in space: If the owners or occupants of a space fail to keep an animal, whether domestic or wild, contained as a result of negligence, you may have a potential case.

Following an initial meeting, the first task will be to establish the general facts of the case. This will include your medical diagnosis, which will need to be confirmed and documented by a doctor; and proof that the person or company at fault owed you a duty of care, which will need to be demonstrated. Together, this will show that your injury occurred when they breached that duty of care.

From there a further investigation will proceed—contacting and interviewing witnesses, speaking with expert consultants, and more—all to bolster the strength of your case even further. Only once this process is complete, and your claim can be demonstrated and proven in full, will the process move on to the next step.

Public liability claims enable you to recoup the financial and emotional costs of suffering an injury due to someone else’s negligence. Defendants regularly offer monetary settlements to claimants, particularly if they acknowledge liability and believe they would lose in court.

But should you accept the settlement or proceed to the later stages of litigation instead, where a judge will have the final decision? Every case is different, but here are some of the factors you may wish to consider before making your choice:
1. The size of the settlement
2. The strength of your case
3. Your patience levels
4. Your lawyer’s advice

There are time limits involved with public liability claims, so it’s important to make a claim as soon as possible to ensure you remain eligible. Usually, individuals have three years from the date of injury to file a claim but this may differ by state and it is often best to start the claims process as early as possible.

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Gerard Malouf & Partners have provided friendly, experienced legal advice to communities across Australia for over 35 years. Our Personal Injury Lawyers have taken on ten’s of thousands of cases and we are proud to have won billions of dollars for our clients.
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Meet the diverse and dynamic team of compensation lawyers and supporting staff that have made this all happen below. Our multi-lingual team can discuss your claims in Arabic, Assyrian, Turkish, Greek, Italian, French, Serbian, Croatian, Armenian, Mandarin, Hindi, Punjabi or Malayalam.

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