Australia, Aug. 19 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on July 18:

1. By amended summons filed on 7 April 2025, the plaintiff, Insurance Australia Limited trading as NRMA Insurance as agent for the Nominal Defendant (the insurer), seeks to challenge the following:

1) the decision of the second defendant of 2 December 2024, Dr Sophia Lahz (the medical assessor), that the first defendant, Craig Toole (the claimant) suffered 5% Whole Person Impairment (WPI) to his lumbar spine as a result of a motor accident on 10 March 2021 (the medical assessor's decision); and

2) the decision of the third defendant of 17 February 2025, the President of the Personal Injury Commission (PIC) (the President), through a delegate, to refuse the insurer's application for review of the medical assessor's decision.

2 Each of the defendants has filed a submitting appearance.

The statutory scheme

The Motor Accident Injuries Act 2017 (NSW)

3. Before setting out the background to the current proceedings, I propose to outline the statutory scheme established by the Motor Accident Injuries Act 2017 (NSW) (the Act), which applies to motor accidents which occurred after 1 December 2017: s 1.8. Unless otherwise indicated, all references to legislation in these reasons are to the Act.

4. No damages may be awarded for non-economic loss unless the degree of permanent impairment of the injured person as a result of the injury caused by the motor accident is greater than 10%: s 4.11. If there is a dispute, damages may not be awarded for non-economic loss until a medical assessor appointed by PIC has carried out an assessment of permanent impairment under Division 7.5: s 4.12. Under Sch 2, cl 2(a), the degree of permanent impairment of the injured person that has resulted from the injury caused by the motor accident (including whether the degree of permanent impairment exceeds 10%) is declared to be a "medical assessment matter" for the purposes of Part 7 (entitled "Dispute Resolution"). In Part 7, a medical dispute means, relevantly, a dispute between a claimant and an insurer about a medical assessment matter: s 7.17(a).

5. A medical dispute about a claim may be referred to the President for assessment by either party to the dispute: s 7.20(1)(a). The President is to arrange for the dispute to be dealt with by one or more assessors: s 7.20(2). The President is empowered to appoint medical assessors for the purposes of the Act: s 33(1)(b) of the Personal Injury Commission Act 2020 (NSW) (the PIC Act).

6. The claimant and the insurer must provide to the medical assessor such information as the assessor may reasonably require for the purposes of the medical assessment: s 7.20(4).

*Rest of the document can be viewed at: (https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/19816d5ad4ee0774cc5e2161)

Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.