7 Aug 2019
The appeal was dismissed because the Corporation correctly applied the statutory Schedule 1 regime in calculating and abating weekly compensation and there is no statutory basis to award compensation for the appellant's claimed loss of future earnings or to disturb an ex gratia payment decision.
10 Jul 2019
On the balance of probabilities the L3/4 disc changes were chronic degenerative and unlikely caused by the 8 November 2010 accident, and there is no compelling causal link between the covered L4/5 injury (including post‑surgical changes) and the need for the proposed two‑level fusion; accordingly ACC properly declined funding and the appeal is dismissed.
25 Jun 2019
On the totality of the evidence there remained material uncertainty about causation and entitlement such that the Corporation was not sufficiently satisfied there was no right to ongoing entitlements; accordingly the February 2017 suspension was unlawful and must be set aside, and the interest decision was set aside with interest to be paid from 9 September 2008.
16 May 2019
On the balance of probabilities the evidence established chronic rotator cuff pathology predating the 13 September 2016 quad bike accident; imaging and intraoperative signs of chronicity (tendon retraction, muscle atrophy, ACJ arthropathy, high riding humeral head) indicate attritional tears. The quad bike event at most aggravated pre-existing disease and did not cause new tendon rupture; therefore the condition is excluded as a gradual process and ACC's decision to decline cover is upheld.
10 Aug 2018
On the balance of probabilities the need for surgery was causally linked to the covered 28 May 2012 injury. The Court accepted the temporal link, the appellant's detailed mechanism of injury, the treating surgeon's opinion supported by operative findings of a reactive bursa and scuffing, and found CAP had erred by misunderstanding the mechanism; therefore ACC's decision declining surgery was set aside.
14 Jun 2018
On the balance of probabilities the surgical findings viewed by the treating surgeon, considered together with the temporal nexus, credible contemporaneous reporting and supportive expert opinion, outweighed the imaging and CAP's gradual‑process hypothesis; therefore a causal link between the 10 April 2013 accident and the rotator cuff and biceps tendon tears was established and ACC cover must be granted.
3 May 2018
No medical evidence established implants were appropriate and the treating dentist's assessment indicated the appellant did not meet the qualifying criteria; factual findings showed teeth had been previously heavily restored such that regulation 10(4) required ACC to fund 75% only; therefore the reviewer's dismissal of the appeals was correct and must be upheld.
22 Feb 2018
At the time of the 24 May 2016 decision ACC did not possess a sufficient evidential basis to be 'not satisfied' that entitlements should continue; on the full evidence before the Court the chondrolabral injury is, on balance, causally linked to the February 2016 accident and ACC's suspension decision is quashed.
10 Oct 2017
Weighing the lay evidence and competing medical opinions the Judge preferred the treating specialist's clinical assessment and found on the balance of probabilities that the appellant's need for surgery was causally linked to the covered November 2013 injury; accordingly the Corporation's refusal was set aside.
14 Jul 2017
The Court upheld the ACC decision because the comprehensive expert review and the absence of any contemporaneous medical record or treatment linking a lumbar/back injury to the 1988 accident meant the appellant failed to establish causation; later medical comments were insufficient to displace the contemporaneous evidence and expert findings.