State of New South Wales v Taylor [2001] HCA 15

HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA

GLEESON CJ,

McHUGH, KIRBY, HAYNE AND CALLINAN JJ

STATE OF NEW SOUTH WALES APPELLANT

AND

BRENNAN TAYLOR RESPONDENT

State of New South Wales v Taylor [2001] HCA 15

15 March 2001

S46/2000

ORDER

1. Appeal allowed. 2. Set aside the Orders of the Court of Appeal of New South Wales made on 2 June 1999 and in place thereof order that the appeal to the Court of Appeal be dismissed. 3. The appellant to pay the respondent's costs of the appeal to this Court and of the proceedings before the Master, and before Murray AJ and before the Court of Appeal.

On appeal from the Supreme Court of New South Wales

Representation:

L King SC with R A Stanton for the appellant (instructed by P W Turk & Associates)

A J Leslie QC with J O Anderson and A O Leslie for the respondent (instructed by Steve Masselos & Co)

Notice: This copy of the Court's Reasons for Judgment is subject to formal revision prior to publication in the Commonwealth Law Reports.

CATCHWORDS

State of New South Wales v Taylor

Workers' Compensation – Election between permanent loss compensation and damages – Where worker seeks to revoke election to claim permanent loss compensation and to commence proceedings for recovery of damages – Where s 151A(5) of the Workers Compensation Act 1987 (NSW) limits the availability of revocation of such election – Whether par (c) of s 151A(5) is satisfied if, at the time of the election, a reasonable person in the position of the injured person would have no cause to believe that further deterioration of the condition would probably occur.

Statutes – Interpretation – s 151A(5)(c) of Workers Compensation Act 1987 (NSW) – meaning of "no reasonable cause to believe".

Words and phrases – "believe" – "would".

Workers Compensation Act 1987 (NSW) s 151A.

1. GLEESON CJ, McHUGH AND HAYNE JJ. Section 151A of the Workers Compensation Act 1987 (NSW) relevantly enacts: