Black and Comcare (Compensation)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered the matter between the applicant and Comcare. The dispute concerned whether Comcare remained liable to the applicant for previously accepted conditions, specifically bursitis disorder (right) and adjustment disorder with depression, as at 12 September 2017. The core of the dispute hinged on which party's medical evidence the Tribunal would prefer.

The Tribunal was required to determine whether the applicant continued to suffer from the accepted conditions as at the specified date. This determination was fundamentally a question of fact, dependent on the assessment and preference of conflicting expert medical evidence presented by both the applicant and the respondent.

The Tribunal's reasoning focused on evaluating the expert medical evidence. The applicant's history detailed a fall at work on 12 September 2008, which he claimed resulted in pain and restricted movement in his right shoulder. Subsequent medical treatment led to a diagnosis of bursitis, for which compensation liability was accepted by the respondent. The Tribunal ultimately found that the applicant continued to suffer from the accepted conditions.