New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Backdating weekly compensation

Legal area

Court

29 Jan 2016

Marsh v Accident Compensation Corporation

Citation

[2016] NZACC 19
Court

District Court

Dr Earthrowl's report, received by the Corporation on 17 December 2008, confirmed diagnosis, causation and that the covered major depressive disorder was unresolved and affected vocational independence; that report constituted 'all necessary information' under s114, so interest is payable from 17 December 2008. Earlier reports (Visser 2005, MacLeod 2007, Tait 2008) did not, for the reasons identified, provide all necessary information to trigger s114 liability.
20 Apr 2009

Spotswood v Accident Compensation Corporation

Citation

[2009] NZACC 58
Court

District Court

The appeal is dismissed because there is insufficient contemporaneous medical and other evidence to establish that the appellant remained continuously incapacitated for his pre-injury employment from 1986 to 1998 as required for backdated weekly compensation under the Act; later discovery of a failed fusion does not, without adequate contemporaneous proof, satisfy the statutory requirements for backdating.
25 Jul 2008

Scott v Accident Compensation Corporation

Citation

[2008] NZACC 174
Court

District Court

The appeal is dismissed because the evidence is insufficient to establish retrospective incapacity to 1989: the claimant continued working until Braemar closed, contemporaneous medical records are absent or not supportive, and the medical opinion offered is not persuasive enough given the evidentiary standard required for backdating compensation.
23 Aug 2007

Little v Accident Compensation Corporation

Citation

[2007] NZACC 196
Court

District Court

The judge found that, on the whole of the evidence (GP notes, occupational therapy and rehabilitation reports and the appellant's documented employment history), there was sufficient credible evidence to conclude the appellant was incapacitated from the date of his 1990 injury through to November 2003; consequently ACC's decision of 20 December 2006 refusing to backdate compensation was quashed and the appellant is entitled to backdated weekly compensation subject to abatement for earnings and consideration of WINZ benefits.
22 Nov 2004

Coleman v Accident Compensation Corporation

Citation

[2004] NZACC 363
Court

District Court

Section 72 applies and requires measuring lateness from one month after the Corporation received all information necessary to calculate payment; that necessary information can include both medical evidence of causation and earnings information required to compute abatements. In this case the appellant cannot establish entitlement to interest from March 1990 because the relevant necessary information for calculation was not available earlier, and the Court is bound by the Reviewer's determination (and the respondent's decision not to cross-appeal) to treat interest as payable from 1 March 1997.

New Zealand Case Law

Marsh v Accident Compensation Corporation

Spotswood v Accident Compensation Corporation

Scott v Accident Compensation Corporation

Little v Accident Compensation Corporation

Coleman v Accident Compensation Corporation