Windley v Workers Compensation Nominal Insurer [2021] NSWSC 1125

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Windley v Workers Compensation Nominal Insurer [2021] NSWSC 1125 Hearing dates: 7 July 2021 Date of orders: 03 September 2021 Decision date: 03 September 2021 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Harrison AsJ Decision: The court orders: (1) A declaration that the certificate and statement of reasons of the third defendant dated 4 February 2021 is set aside. (2) The matter is remitted to the President of the Personal Injury Commission of New South Wales to be determined according to law. (3) The first defendant is to pay the plaintiff's costs Catchwords: ADMINISTRATIVE LAW – Judicial review– Personal Injury Commission – Workplace Injury Management and Workers Compensation Act 1998 (NSW) – Review of the decision of a Medical Appeal Panel – Jurisdictional error – Error on face of the record – Complex regional pain syndrome – Whether Medical Appeal Panel erred in finding the Medical Assessor did not provide sufficient reasons Legislation Cited: Supreme Court Act 1970 (NSW), s 69 Workplace Injury Management and Workers Compensation Act 1998 (NSW), ss 327, 328 and 331 Cases Cited: Ballas v Department of Education [2020] NSWCA 86 Campbelltown City Council v Vegan (2006) 67 NSWLR 372; [2006] NSWCA 284 Cincotta v Police Citizens Youth Club NSW Ltd & Ors [2018] NSWSC 1588 El Masri v Woolworths Ltd [2014] NSWSC 1344 Elsworthy v Forgacs Engineering Pty Ltd [2018] NSWSC 1638 Hanna v Delta Electrical and Security Pty Ltd [2019] NSWSC 1127 Lukacevic v Coates Hire Operations Pty Limited [2011] NSWCA 112 Minister for Immigration and Citizenship v SZMDS Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs v Wu Shan Liang (1996) 185 CLR 259 Petrovic v BC Serve No 14 Pty Ltd t/as Broadlex Cleaning Service [2007] NSWSC 1156 Sadsad v NRMA Insurance Limited [2014] NSWSC 1216 Vannini v Worldwide Demolitions Pty Ltd [2018] NSWCA 324 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Damien Windley (Plaintiff) Workers Compensation Nominal Insurer (First Defendant) The President of the Personal Injury Commission of New South Wales (Second Defendant) A Medical Appeal Panel constituted by Members John Harris, Dr Mark Burns and Dr Brian Noll (Third Defendant) A Medical Assessor constituted by Dr Yu-Key Ho (Fourth Defendant) Representation: Counsel: E Romaniuk (Plaintiff) C Roberts (First Defendant)