New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Entitlement to cover

Legal area

Court

27 Jun 2019

Lough v Accident Compensation Corporation (Weekly Compensation)

Citation

[2019] NZACC 68
Court

District Court

On the totality of evidence—prior pattern of freelance work, express decision and communications to pursue freelancing, ongoing research and client-targeting activities, and industry context that justified delaying direct client contact during holidays—the appellant was engaged in work for pecuniary gain and therefore was an 'earner' immediately before the injury, entitling him to weekly compensation.
6 Dec 2018

Cleverley v Accident Compensation Corporation (Time for making Claim)

Citation

[2018] NZACC 191
Court

District Court

The appeal is dismissed because the appellant failed to establish, on the balance of probabilities and to the requisite standard, a causal link between the 1979 accident and the 2013-identified lateral meniscal pathology; the Corporation reasonably found it was prejudiced by the 35-year delay given absence of contemporaneous medical records and conflicting expert opinions, and there was no compelling medical reasoning to prefer the appellant's experts.
26 Nov 2018

JT v Accident Compensation Corporation (Entitlements)

Citation

[2018] NZACC 184
Court

District Court

On the balance of probabilities the medical evidence does not support that the appellant's need for surgical repair was caused by the 13 November 2014 accident: treating surgeon's opinion was speculative and unsupported by medical reasoning, whereas CAP and other medical reports provided coherent explanation that the tendon tear and pathology were due to degenerative tendinosis and chronic De Quervain's disease aggravated but not caused by the incident; accordingly ACC's refusal to fund surgery was upheld. On suppression, the application lacked specific evidential support showing it was neces…
10 Oct 2018

Sims v Accident Compensation Corporation (Treatment Injury)

Citation

[2018] NZACC 158
Court

District Court

Specialist medical evidence did not establish a delay in diagnosing type I diabetes before 2015 and, in any event, earlier diagnosis would not have materially changed management or prevented hypoglycaemic episodes because such episodes are virtually unavoidable in type I diabetes; additionally the physical injuries from the falls are already covered by existing ACC claims, so the appellant cannot obtain separate treatment injury cover — appeal dismissed and review decision upheld.
6 Jul 2018

Moon v Accident Compensation Corporation (Cover)

Citation

[2018] NZACC 107
Court

District Court

On the balance of probabilities the medical and coronial evidence established that the substantial cause of death was pre-existing hypertensive heart disease and morbid obesity; the lifting was at most a trigger or aggravation and did not cause a cardiovascular episode of the character required by s28(3) to create entitlement, therefore the ACC decisions and the review decision were correct and the appeal is dismissed.
19 Dec 2017

Brown v Accident Compensation Corporation (Entitlement to Surgery/Cover)

Citation

[2017] NZACC 151
Court

District Court

The Court dismissed both appeals because there was no contemporaneous medical evidence establishing that an injury occurred on 18 January 2013 so that event did not attract cover, and the need for surgery was attributable to pre-existing degenerative disc disease (with an L5/S1 extrusion present on the 2008 MRI) rather than the 2012 covered event, so surgical funding was correctly declined by the Corporation.
13 Sept 2017

Johnson v Accident Compensation Corporation (Funding for Surgery)

Citation

[2017] NZACC 113
Court

District Court

On the balance of probabilities the District Court accepted the appellant's expert evidence (Mr Cleary) that the MVA produced a traumatic subacromial impingement/contusion which initiated progressive tendon breakdown and resulted in the interstitial supraspinatus tear; accordingly the tear and need for surgery had its genesis in the accident and are causally connected to a covered injury, so the reviewer's decision to decline funding was discharged.
30 Mar 2017

Eggers v Accident Compensation Corporation (Funding for Surgery )

Citation

[2017] NZACC 30
Court

District Court

On the balance of probabilities the proven lateral meniscal tear was caused by the 25 October 2013 gym accident; the Court preferred the treating surgeon's opinion (Mr Brownlee) as providing a logical basis linking the injury event, temporality, MRI findings and absence of lateral degenerative change, therefore ACC's decision declining funding was quashed and cover for surgery is warranted.
12 Oct 2016

Sant v Accident Compensation Corporation

Citation

[2016] NZACC 281
Court

District Court

The appellant failed to establish on the balance of probabilities that the 1989/1990 orthopaedic surgery, cast or tourniquet caused the left leg varicose veins; the specialist vascular opinion and imaging evidence showing primary saphenous incompetence and normal deep veins outweighed the GP opinion and temporal association, therefore entitlement to cover for a treatment injury was not established.
30 Sept 2016

Johnston v Accident Compensation Corporation

Citation

[2016] NZACC 274
Court

District Court

The appellant failed to satisfy s30(2)(c) of the Accident Compensation Act 2001 because there was no evidence that the identified work activities placed him at a significantly greater risk of knee osteoarthritis than non-employment activities; therefore cover as a work-related gradual process was rightly declined. However, because medical evidence supported that multiple traumatic patellar dislocations plausibly contributed to the degenerative change and those discrete events had not been adequately considered by the Corporation, the proper remedy is to remit the broader issue of entitlement…