Australia, July 7 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on June 6:

1. THE COURT: This is an application for leave to appeal by Mr Khanna from a decision of Faulkner J in Khanna v Insurance Australia Limited [2025] NSWSC 33. For the reasons that follow, leave to appeal should be refused.

Background

2. The following summary of the background is drawn from the reasons of the primary judge, in circumstances where no complaint was made about the description of such matters by the primary judge and the underlying material was not put before this Court. Two separate proceedings were heard and determined together by the primary judge. Each proceeding was an application for judicial review made under s 69 of the Supreme Court Act 1970 (NSW). The primary judge found that no jurisdictional error or error of law on the face of the record was established.

3. On 17 August 2016, the applicant was sitting in his stationary car when another car ran into him. The respondent is the third party insurer of the other car ("the Insurer"). The Insurer accepted that the accident occurred and that the driver of the other car was at fault.

4. A dispute within the meaning of the Motor Accidents Compensation Act 1999 (NSW) ("MAC Act") arose when the applicant claimed that the injuries which he suffered included injuries which were not the obvious consequences of the car crash. Ultimately, the disputed injuries were in four categories, namely:

1) exacerbation of the applicant's pre-existing diabetes condition;

2) exacerbation of the applicant's pre-existing cardiac condition;

3) specific physical injuries, namely chest, head, thoracic and lumbar spine and right shoulder and arm injuries; and

4) psychiatric conditions.

5. In the case of the alleged exacerbation of the applicant's pre-existing diabetes condition, the medical assessment matters were referred to a Medical Assessor, Dr Carter, who certified a 2% permanent impairment attributable to the exacerbation of the diabetes condition.

6. In the case of the alleged exacerbation of the applicant's pre-existing cardiac condition, the medical assessment matters were referred to Dr Herman. Dr Herman undertook an assessment and gave a Certificate on 6 September 2022 in which he concluded that the accident did not cause any exacerbation of the applicant's cardiac condition. Dr Herman therefore certified that:

1) for the purposes of ss 58(1)(a) and (b) of the MAC Act, treatment for the applicant's cardiac condition was not reasonable and necessary treatment which related to injuries caused by the motor accident; and

2) for the purposes of s 58(1)(d), an assessment of the degree of permanent impairment for the cardiac condition was not required.

*Rest of the document can be viewed at: (https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/1973dc6b757be716f0bc3645)

Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.