New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Pre-existing degenerative condition

Legal area

Court

20 Aug 2018

Anderson v Accident Compensation Corporation (Cover)

Citation

[2018] NZACC 157
Court

District Court

The appellant failed to establish, on the balance of probabilities, that either the 2008 weightlifting incident or the 2010 motorbike accident caused the left rotator cuff arthropathy; contemporaneous records, bilateral 2008 pathology, expert opinion and lengthy delays in reporting make it far more probable the arthropathy resulted from natural degenerative progression rather than accident, so ACC correctly declined cover and funding.
8 Aug 2018

Wakefield v Accident Compensation Corporation (Entitlement to Surgery)

Citation

[2018] NZACC 125
Court

District Court

The medical evidence established the meniscal tear and chondral damage were wholly or substantially caused by pre-existing degenerative disease rather than the 28 March 2015 accident, so there was no 'personal injury' caused by an accident under the Act and no entitlement to ACC-funded arthroscopic debridement; a mere temporal link was insufficient to establish causation.
19 May 2016

Borlase v Accident Compensation Corporation

Citation

[2016] NZACC 134
Court

District Court

The court preferred the analysis of Dr Hilliard that the appellant's right shoulder bursitis and impingement are secondary to established rotator cuff degenerative changes with no clear contemporaneous evidence of a shoulder injury at the time of the 2012 or 2013 events; the appellant failed to prove on the balance of probabilities that the surgery is required to treat an injury caused by accident rather than degenerative disease, therefore ACC cover for the proposed surgery is not established and the appeal is dismissed.
10 Jun 2013

Cooper v Accident Compensation Corporation

Citation

[2013] NZACC 158
Court

District Court

Judge found on balance that the claimant had significant osteoarthritis predating the 2002 accident, that the accident rendered that pre-existing condition symptomatic but did not cause the ongoing pathology, and therefore the continuing incapacity was substantially due to pre-existing osteoarthritis not a compensable ongoing injury; appeal dismissed.
26 Jan 2012

Munroe v Accident Compensation Corporation

Citation

[2012] NZACC 30
Court

District Court

Medical imaging and expert opinion established no new structural spinal injury from the 2008 accident but pre-existing multi-level degenerative lumbar disease that was rendered symptomatic; precedent excludes cover for conditions that are merely degenerative and rendered symptomatic by an accident; therefore the respondent lawfully suspended entitlements and the appeal is dismissed.
29 Nov 2011

Anderson v Accident Compensation Corporation

Citation

[2011] NZACC 343
Court

District Court

The Court accepted the treating surgeon's causation evidence that the 25 December 2009 fall tore the infraspinatus producing an unbalanced, symptomatic rotator cuff which made the combined surgical repair necessary; consequently the surgery primarily treated a covered personal injury and ACC is liable to reimburse the cost.
15 Dec 2010

Mitchell v Accident Compensation Corporation

Citation

[2010] NZACC 234
Court

District Court

On a full re-hearing of the medical evidence the Court found the appellant's ongoing disability is attributable to long-standing multi-level degenerative lumbar disease predating the 2008 strain, the strain would ordinarily have resolved, and therefore ACC's decision to suspend entitlements was correct and the appeal is dismissed.
11 Nov 2010

Bartram v Accident Compensation Corporation

Citation

[2010] NZACC 200
Court

District Court

Insufficient evidence established that the November 2007 fall caused a full thickness supraspinatus tear; medical evidence and expert opinion more plausibly indicate a pre-existing degenerative rotator cuff tear rendered symptomatic by the fall, which is not coverable; therefore respondent's decline of cover was correct and the appeal is dismissed.
29 Jul 2010

Gallagher v Accident Compensation Corporation

Citation

[2010] NZACC 116
Court

District Court

On the balance of probabilities the temporal connection between the successful right-sided surgery and the immediate onset of left-sided C7 radicular symptoms, coupled with the treating surgeon's opinion that intraoperative positioning or events could have initiated nerve root compromise, established that the left C7 radiculopathy was sustained in the course of treatment and therefore constituted a treatment injury for which ACC cover must be granted despite pre-existing degenerative foraminal narrowing.
19 Sept 2008

Rapana v Accident Compensation Corporation

Citation

[2008] NZACC 229
Court

District Court

Medical evidence overwhelmingly established that the appellant had significant pre-existing degenerative cervical spine disease which progressed over the years and is the cause of his current incapacity; the 1982 strain incidents did not cause the ongoing disabling condition and an accident that merely renders a degenerative condition symptomatic does not convert the degenerative process into a covered injury; therefore the respondent's refusal of backdated weekly compensation was correct and the appeal is dismissed.