Booth v Fourmeninapub Pty Ltd

Booth (the appellant) appealed to the Supreme Court of New South Wales against a decision of the Workers Compensation Commission. The dispute concerned a claim for workers compensation, where the appellant sought to rely on further evidence in the appeal, which the respondent, Fourmeninapub Pty Ltd, opposed.

The primary legal issues before the Court of Appeal were whether the further evidence sought to be adduced by the appellant was relevant to an appeal confined to a question of law, and whether that evidence could not have been obtained with reasonable diligence for the original hearing. Additionally, the Court considered whether the President of the Workers Compensation Commission erred in disregarding the evidence of a psychiatrist, and whether a predisposition to bipolar disorder constituted a disease that could be aggravated, accelerated, exacerbated, or deteriorated during employment, within the meaning of the former section 4(b)(ii) of the *Workers Compensation Act 1987* (NSW).

The Court distinguished between the task of identifying the meaning of an expert report and the task of evaluating the evidence contained within it. It held that the further evidence was not relevant to a question of law and could have been obtained with reasonable diligence. The Court found that the President had not erred in his approach to the psychiatrist's evidence, and that a predisposition to bipolar disorder, in itself, was not an injury under the Act.

Consequently, the notice of motion seeking to adduce further evidence was dismissed, and the appeal itself was also dismissed, both with costs.