10 Aug 2010
The correct commencement date for the appellant's independence allowance is 18 November 2005, the date the application was lodged, as a matter of law under section 377(3)(c)(i); consequently the Review decision of 7 August 2009 was quashed and the respondent's primary decision of 10 November 2008 reinstated.
13 Mar 2009
The statutory default is that regained weekly compensation starts from the date of the determination of deterioration; an earlier start date is only justified by clear evidence of an obvious relapse or undue delay by the respondent. On the facts and medical evidence available before the respondent, no critical events justified an earlier date than that fixed by the reviewer (2 August 2006), so the appeal dismissing the request to backdate to 2000 was affirmed.
24 Jan 2007
Dr Chew's AMA Guides (4th ed.) based assessment, confirmed by peer review, correctly established a combined WPI of 14%; Dr Hancock's report did not apply AMA criteria and conflated disability with WPI and therefore cannot override the assessor's finding; the 4 December 1998 suspension was valid and unchallenged, so entitlement could only resume from the appellant's fresh application in September 2004.
28 Apr 2006
Leave granted because questions of law arise as to the proper interpretation of regulation 8 — specifically whether it prohibits payment before a written application and whether its time fetter applies to claimants injured in infancy — and those questions should be stated for the High Court.
18 Apr 1996
The Act permits the date of assessment to be read as the date at which the claimant's degree of disability is assessed (not strictly the physical date the assessment occurred), and because the 1992 Act limits backdating before 1 July 1992, the appellant's degree of disability must be reassessed as at 1 July 1992 (or at a date between 1 July 1992 and 12 October 1994) and, if entitled, the independence allowance must be backdated to that date.