MASHIATI v AUSTRALIAN POULTRY LTD [1995] NSWCA 277

MASHIATI v AUSTRALIAN POULTRY LTD SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES COURT OF APPEAL

CLARKE, MEAGHER and SHELLER JJA 2 May 1995, 18 May 1995 [1995] NSWCA 277

WORKERS COMPENSATION — APPEAL — FAILURE TO PROVIDE ADEQUATE REASONS Facts - The appellant claimed that on 24 July 1990 he was pulling a heavily loaded pallet containing 62 boxes of chickens, and was attempting to walk backwards pulling the pallet jack in order to move the pallet to a freezer, when he sustained injury to the low back region. The Judge however made a finding in favour of the respondent.

The appellant's case was that prior to the incident he had not suffered from symptoms in his lower back and that following the incident he had continuing problems which significantly disabled him. The appellant was supported by doctors who, although they accepted that he had some long standing degeneration, related the symptoms to that incident. The respondent had the evidence of at least one doctor who thought that the problems arose from a back condition which must have been symptomatic well before the incident in question and which, while temporarily aggravated, continued in their pre-incident condition following the aggravation.

Held

Although her Honour hesitated to accept the appellant, she made no clear finding rejecting his evidence. There was no analysis of the competing medical evidence and, consequently, no reasons given for preferring the evidence adduced by one side to that led by the other. Her Honour pinned her final conclusion in some inexplicable way to the appellant's behaviour before medical practitioners and in court.

The appellant was entitled to a judgment based on findings and reasons which enable "a proper understanding of the basis upon which the verdict entered has been reached". Her Honour's judgment fails to meet the relevant test and cannot stand.