28 Apr 2016
Because there was no medical certification or statutory vocational determination certifying capacity to return to the pre-injury job, incapacity was continuous from the 1998 injury and weekly compensation must be calculated based on pre-injury earnings; therefore the Corporation's recalculation was correct and the appeal is dismissed.
12 Dec 2014
The Court held ACC was liable to pay interest on backdated weekly compensation from 1 April 1993 because ACC had, by 31 March 1993, all the information necessary to calculate and make payments; ACC cannot rely on its own failures to investigate or its procedures to avoid s114 liability; a later-obtained WINZ repayment obligation does not delay the commencement of the one month s114 period when that obligation arose only because ACC failed earlier to recognise entitlement.
9 Jun 2010
The appellant failed to prove continuous incapacity from his covered right ankle injury from the date he last ceased employment; the 28 September 1988 fit certificate and subsequent return to work indicate capacity, imprisonment and lack of medical evidence on release broke any continuity, and later events (WINZ benefits and 2006 surgery) do not establish incapacity during the relevant period; therefore no entitlement to backdated weekly compensation under Clause 32.
13 Mar 1998
On the balance of probabilities the appellant failed to establish continuous incapacity from 19 March 1992 to 6 May 1994 because there was no contemporaneous medical evidence of ongoing incapacity, and empirical evidence showed he returned to and performed pre-injury employment intermittently; incapacity was properly found to commence with the injury of 6 May 1994.
9 May 1997
The court found on the balance of credible oral evidence and corroborating records of continuous osteopathic treatment that the appellant's incapacity from the 11 July 1994 injury did not effectively abate and therefore commenced on the date of injury; accordingly the appellant qualifies for earnings-related compensation under s 40 and the appeal is allowed.