18 Jun 2015
The application for leave was dismissed because the applicant failed to identify any question of law; the District Court correctly treated the dispute as factual, applied ss14-15 and clause 50 Schedule 1 to permit estimation of earnings given missing records, and the estate did not show the Corporation's calculations were wrong.
12 Jun 2013
Judge found claimant was not in permanent employment prior to 1 April 2008 due to intermittent, unpaid and informal arrangements; a formal contract from 1 April 2008 established permanency. Applying clause 34(2) and relevant authority, weekly compensation must be calculated using earnings from 1 April to 28 May 2008 divided by eight weeks.
2 Mar 2011
Where a claimant continues to work after injury the fact of actual engagement in pre-injury employment is strong evidence of capacity for that employment such that an earlier medical view of continuous incapacity is not determinative; here the objective earnings record showed a sustained and sharp drop in productive weeks commencing 12 June 1998, so the correct first date of incapacity for retrospective calculation is 12 June 1998 and initial weekly earnings are to be calculated under the 1992 Act as preserved by transitional provisions, with subsequent adjustments governed by the 2001 Act.
3 Jul 2009
Medical certificates and contemporaneous medical notes showed the appellant was certified fit for work on 15 October 1992 and returned to full-time employment from 19 October 1992 until February 1994; there was no medical evidence establishing incapacity during that period and the legal principle that continuing to work ('soldiering on') precludes a finding of legal incapacity applies; therefore entitlement to weekly compensation did not commence until appellant was incapacitated again (accepted as 18 February 1994), and respondent must pay the shortfall for 18 February 1994 to 11 March 1994.
23 Feb 2004
The respondent lawfully exercised its discretion under clause 24(2) of Schedule 1 of the Accident Insurance Act 1998 by using the insured's earnings immediately before incapacity as the comparator; post-incapacity pay increases are not to be factored into abatement. The appeal is dismissed but the matter is remitted for precise weekly recalculations under the statutory formula.