TEEN RANCH PTY LTD v BROWN [1994] NSWCA 307

TEEN RANCH PTY LTD v BROWN SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES COURT OF APPEAL

KIRBY P 20 June 1994, 20 June 1994 [1994] NSWCA 307

WORKERS' COMPENSATION — appeal to Supreme Court — Workers Compensation Act 1984, s32 — calculation of qualifying amount for appeal as of right — held: (per Kirby P):

(1) In calculating the sum involved, medical and like expenses incurred under s60 of the Workers Compensation Act 1987 are taken into account; (2) Accordingly, in the instant case, the appeal lay as of right and did not require leave. Compensation Court Act 1984, s32. Workers Compensation Act 1987 s60, and s66.

ORDERS 1. Stay the execution of the award of her Honour O'Toole CCJ, made on 5 May 1994, until the hearing and determination of the appeal herein or any further or other order of the Court or of a Judge of Appeal; 2. Order that the appeal, which I have determined is as of right, be heard by the Court with expedition, category C; 3. Direct that the appeal be called over by the Registrar for the purpose of fixing the hearing date on a date to be notified to the parties; and 4. Order that the costs of the proceedings before the Court today be costs in the appeal.

Kirby P In this proceeding, a preliminary question arose as to whether the matter in contest before her Honour, O' Toole CCJ, exceeded the statutory sum of $10,000.

That issue is important because under s32 of the Compensation Court Act 1984, appeals to this Court from the Compensation Court on issues of fact are now limited to cases where that sum is exceeded.

The amounts ordered to be paid by the award of O'Toole CCJ are ordered under s60 and s66 of the Workers' Compensation act 1987.

It is now agreed that, when the s60 medical and like expenses are taken into account, the award does get over the sum provided by the statutory pre condition. In my opinion, such expenses are within the Act for the purposes for which the statutory pre condition has been fixed by Parliament.