AINSWORTH NOMINEES PTY LTD (T/A ARISTOCRAT LEISURE INDUSTRIES) v CROUCH [1993] NSWCA 2

AINSWORTH NOMINEES PTY LTD (T/A ARISTOCRAT LEISURE INDUSTRIES) vy CROUCH

SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES — COURT OF APPEAL

KIRBY P 13 December 1993 [1993] NSWCA 2

WORKERS' COMPENSATION — appeal to Court of Appeal — stay — award under ss 66 and 67 Workers Compensation Act 1987 — employer concedes amounts payable but disputes amount awarded — offers to pay amounts conceded — suggests fear of difficulty of recovery if appeal allowed — worker refrains from offering evidence as to financial means — held: (1) In the circumstances a stay should be granted upon condition that the conceded amount is paid; (2) The fact that the worker was sixty-five years of age did not warrant an inference that he would die and render recovery of the award under s 67 impossible; (3) Stay ordered on conditions.

PRACTICE & PROCEDURE — Court of Appeal — stay — workers' compensation award — conditions of stay — payment of uncontested sum ordered.

Workers Compensation Act 1987, ss 66 and 67.

Kirby P. This is a contested application for the stay of execution of an award of Manser CCJ, entered in the Compensation Court. His Honour awarded a worker, Edward Lester Crouch, compensation under s 66 and s 67 of the Workers Compensation Act 1987.

The dispute before the Court will be the extent of the worker's entitlement. The claimant, Ainsworth Nominees Pty Ltd, trading as Aristocrat Leisure Industries, is the worker's employer. It concedes that the worker is entitled to an amount equivalent to 30 per cent of the maximum amount payable for permanent impairment of the back and 30 per cent of the maximum amount payable under s 67. However, it contests any liability beyond those amounts. It asserts that it should not be put to the inconvenience, in the event that its appeal succeeds before this Court, of having to endeavour, for want of a stay, to recover the amount paid out pursuant to the award from the worker.