Wright v State of New South Wales [2024] NSWCA 77

Court of Appeal Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Wright v State of New South Wales [2024] NSWCA 77 Hearing dates: 20 March 2024 Date of orders: 11 April 2024 Decision date: 11 April 2024 Before: Gleeson JA [1]; Mitchelmore JA [2]; Stern JA [3]. Decision: (1) Leave to appeal is granted. (2) The appeal is dismissed. (3) In addition to the orders made by Basten AJ, the State of New South Wales' appeal against the decision of the Medical Assessor dated 16 August 2022 is remitted to the President of the Personal Injury Commission either: (a) For referral under s 329 of the Workplace Injury Management and Workers Compensation Act 1998 (NSW) ("Management Act") of Mr Wright's claim of permanent impairment arising out of his injury with a deemed date of 5 December 2018 for further medical assessment; or (b) For referral to a differently constituted appeal panel for hearing under s 328 of the Management Act of the State of New South Wales' appeal. In either case, any further consideration of Mr Wright's claim should be made consistently with the reasons of the Court. (4) Each party is to bear its own costs of the appeal. Catchwords: WORKERS COMPENSATION – Medical assessment – Degree of permanent impairment as a result of an injury – Where medical assessor assessed appellant as having whole person impairment of 19% – Where primary judge found medical assessor had exceeded his statutory jurisdiction having regard to an estoppel arising from the terms of a Certificate of Determination – Whether primary judge erred as to the proper construction of the Certificate of Determination Legislation Cited: Workers Compensation Act 1987 (NSW), ss 2A, 4, 9(1), 9A, 11A, 15(1), 33, 60, 65A(3), 66 Workers Compensation Regulation 2016 (NSW) Workplace Injury Management and Workers Compensation Act 1998 (NSW), ss 78, 288, 293, 294, 319, 321(1), 321A, 322, 325, 327, 328, 329 Cases Cited: Be Financial Pty Ltd as Trustee for Be Financial Operations Trust v Das [2012] NSWCA 164 Habib v Radio 2UE Sydney Pty Ltd [2009] NSWCA 231 Secretary, New South Wales Department of Education v Johnson [2019] NSWCA 321 State of New South Wales v Wright [2023] NSWSC 757 Scone Race Club Ltd v Cottom [2024] NSWCA 34 Skates v Hills Industries Ltd [2021] NSWCA 142 State Government Insurance Commission v Oakley (1990) 10 MVR 570; [1990] Aust Torts Reports 81-003 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Paul Wright (Appellant)