Australia, Aug. 16 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on July 15:

1. This is an application for administrative review under s 55 of the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 ("PPIP Act") arising out of alleged breaches of that Act and alleged breaches of the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002 ("HRIP Act").

Background

2. Following events at the applicant's workplace in December 2020, the applicant, GJO ("Applicant") made a claim for workers compensation against her then employer. The claim concerned psychological injury.

3. The Applicant's claim was managed by QBE insurance Australia ("QBE") on behalf of the respondent, Insurance and Care NSW, known as iCare ("Respondent"). The Respondent acts for the NSW Self Insurance Corporation, which operates the Treasury Managed Fund.

4. QBE retained a firm of solicitors to act in relation to the Applicant's claim.

5. QBE on 3 June 2021 instructed an investigator to conduct a "desktop investigation" of the Applicant. This was an investigation of information about the Applicant found online. The investigator wrote a report concerning the Applicant, described as a "desktop investigation" dated 9 June 2021. It set out the results of the investigation, describing what it found as to the Applicant's activities, interests, relationships and work history ("Desktop Report"). It included reporting of performances of comedy by the Applicant.

6. The Applicant signed a statement on 18 May 2022 ("Applicant's Statement") in which she gave 15 December 2020 as the date she "suffered a psychological injury". She also said that as a result of her injury, "she had been "unable to work".

7. The evidence included an "Independent Medical Examination" of the Applicant dated 17 June 2022 ("Independent Medical Report"). That report diagnosed a whole person impairment ("WPI") of 17%.

8. On 22 June 2022, the Applicant signed a Permanent Impairment Claim form. In that document, she stated a date of injury of 15 December 2020 ("Claim Form").

*Rest of the document can be viewed at: (https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/198065a1cc5d9eb364345885)

Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.