Klement v Bull ‘N’ Bush Nurseries Pty Ltd [2024] NSWSC 466

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Klement v Bull 'N' Bush Nurseries Pty Ltd [2024] NSWSC 466 Hearing dates: 11 April 2024 Date of orders: 26 April 2024 Decision date: 26 April 2024 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Schmidt AJ Decision: (1) The Appeal Panel's decision be set aside; (2) The matter be remitted to another appeal panel to be considered according to law; and (3) Unless the parties approach to be heard within 14 days with short written submissions, the Court's order will be that Bull 'n' Bush Nurseries Pty Ltd bear Mr Klement's costs of the proceedings, as agreed or assessed. Catchwords: ADMINISTRATIVE LAW – judicial review – application to set aside appeal panel's decision – dispute about the subject of the medical dispute referred for assessment – panel mistaken in its understanding of plaintiff's claim and resulting medical dispute – panel acted on a significant misunderstanding of the statutory scheme – injury to wrists and shoulder part of medical dispute correctly referred for assessment – appeal panel's decision set aside ADMINISTRATIVE LAW – judicial review – whether the appeal panel made relevant errors – appeal panel failed to consider documents attached to application which crystallized the medical dispute – claim for injury to upper left extremity not confined to elbow injury – relevant error established – appeal panel's decision set aside Legislation Cited: Workers Compensation Act 1987 (NSW), ss 65, 66 Workplace Injury Management and Workers Compensation Act 1998 (NSW), ss 78, 289, 289A, 293, 319, 321A, 322, 322A, 324, 325, 327 Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW) Cases Cited: Bindah v Carter Hold Harvey Woodproducts Australia Pty Ltd [2014] NSWCA 264 Hossain v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection (2018) 264 CLR 123; [2018] HCA 34 Shankar v Ceba Logistics (Australia) Pty Ltd [2021] NSWPIC PD 18 Skates v Hills Industries Ltd [2021] NSWCA 142 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Rostislav Klement (Plaintiff) Bull 'N' Bush Nurseries Pty Ltd (First Defendant) Personal Injury Commission (Second Defendant) Representation: Counsel: B G McManamey (Plaintiff) P Stockley (First Defendant)