HALTRADE PTY LTD (AS TRUSTEE FOR THE BRAY FAMILY TRUSTS) v BRAY [1992] NSWCA 105

HALTRADE PTY LTD (AS TRUSTEE FOR THE BRAY FAMILY TRUSTS) v BRAY

SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES COURT OF APPEAL

MAHONEY, CLARKE and SHELLER JJA 18 February 1992, 27 February 1992

[1992] NSWCA 105

Appeal from Compensation Court — Applicant rendered paraplegic by accident — Loss of sensation and function of sexual organs -No physical damage — Whether Applicant had suffered "loss of sexual organs" within s16(1B)(a2) of Workers Compensation Act 1926 — Held: Loss of function of sexual organs was not loss of sexual organs — Powder River Pastoral Co Pty Ltd v Wadley (Court of Appeal, 13 December 1983, unreported) discussed.

Mahoney JA On 26 February 1984 the respondent/applicant was injured in a motorvehicle accident. Her contention was that she suffered a spinal cord injury which rendered her a paraplegic. It is accepted that, although there was no physical injury to her sexual organs, the result of the spinal cord injury and the paraplegia was that she had no sexual feeling. She had, in respect of sexual intercourse, as she said, "no feeling whatsoever, no function at all". She is not able to contract her muscles in the genital area and has no urethral sensation.

The applicant commenced proceedings in the Compensation Court of New South Wales claiming compensation under, inter alia, s16(1B)(a2) of the Workers Compensation Act 1926. It is accepted that the validity of her claim is to be determined under the 1926 Act.

On 12 September 1990 his Honour Judge Moran made an award in her favour for lump sum compensation of $14,650 based upon a finding of "total loss of use of the applicant's sexual organs". The respondent to the application Haltrade Pty Ltd has appealed to this Court against his Honour's award.

The matter has proceeded upon the basis that an appeal lies to this Court from the award and that the appeal extends to fact and to law. It has not been suggested that leave to appeal is necessary: if it be necessary, that leave should be granted.