Favetti Bricklaying Pty Limited v Benedek - [2017] NSWSC 417

Supreme Court

New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Favetti Bricklaying Pty Limited v Benedek and Anor [2017] NSWSC 417
Hearing dates: 22 July 2016
Date of orders: 24 April 2017
Decision date: 24 April 2017
Jurisdiction: Common Law
Before: Bellew J
Decision:
1. The decision of the second defendant to refer the assessment of permanent impairment of the first defendant to Approved Medical Specialist is set aside.

2. The second defendant, and its officers, servants and agents, are restrained from acting upon, or taking any further step, to refer the assessment of the first defendant’s whole person impairment to an Approved Medical Specialist until such time as liability in respect of the first defendant’s claimed injury to the thoracic spine has been determined by the Workers Compensation Commission of New South Wales.
3. The parties are to provide any written submissions as to costs within seven (7) days, such submissions not to exceed two pages in length.
Catchwords: STATUTORY INTERPRETATION – Workers Compensation Legislation – Where first defendant alleged that he had sustained an injury at work – Where liability was denied by the insurer – Where Deputy Registrar of the Workers Compensation Commission referred the matter to an Approved Medical Specialist in circumstances where liability remained in issue – Where insurer asserted that the matter should be referred to the Commission for determination of liability – Necessity to construe relevant provisions of Workers Compensation legislation – Application of principles of statutory interpretation – Necessity to consider the text of the provision pursuant to which the determination was made – Meaning of text plain on its face – Where alternative construction would lead to consequences which were clearly unintended by the legislature - Error established
Legislation Cited: Workers Compensation Act 1987 (NSW)
Workers Compensation Regulation 2010 (NSW)
Workplace Injury Management and Workers Compensation Act 1998 (NSW)
Cases Cited: Federal Commissioner of Taxation v Consolidated Media Holdings Limited (2012) 250 CLR 503; [2012] HCA 55
Jonson v R [2016] NSWCCA 286
Junsay v Uncle Toby’s Company Limited [2009] NSWWCCPD
K. & S. Lake City Freighters Pty Limited v Gordon & Gotch Limited (1985) 157 CLR 309; [1985] HCA 48
Legal Services Board v Gillespie-Jones (2013) 249 CLR 493; [2013] HCA 35
Michael v State of New South Wales [2011] NSWSC 231
Minister for Immigration and Citizenship v Szizo & Ors (2009) 238 CLR 627; [2009] HCA 37
Project Blue Sky Inc & Ors v Australian Broadcasting Authority (1998) 194 CLR 355; [1998] HCA 28
Category: Principal judgment
Parties: Favetti Bricklaying Pty Limited – Plaintiff
Milan Benedek – First Defendant
Registrar of the Workers Compensation Commission of New South Wales – Second Defendant
Representation:
Counsel:

S Pritchard SC and G Barter – Plaintiff
R Goodridge – First defendant
A Rao – State Insurance Regulatory Authority (as Amicus Curiae)

Solicitors:
Sparke Helmore Lawyers – Plaintiff
Firths – First Defendant
Ms M Snell, Dept of Finance Services and Innovation – State Insurance Regulatory Authority (as Amicus Curiae)

File Number(s):

Grounds of appeal

[14] The appellant contends that the primary judge erred in finding that the respondent had discharged the onus of establishing the matters required under the relevant provision.

[15] It was submitted that his Honour failed to give adequate weight to the evidence of the second witness, and that the findings of fact were not reasonably open on the material before the Court.

[16] The respondent, for its part, submits that no error is disclosed, and that the conclusions reached were well within the range of outcomes available to the primary judge.

Consideration

[17] It is convenient to deal first with the question of construction, as the resolution of that issue informs the remaining grounds advanced by the appellant.

[18] For the reasons that follow, we are of the view that the appeal should be allowed in part and the matter remitted for further determination.

Keep reading for free

Create a free CaseChat account to read Favetti Bricklaying Pty Limited v Benedek and more:

Read every judgment in full
Ask AI and get answers linked to paragraphs
See how each paragraph was cited in later cases
Download judgments as PDF or Word

Continue with Google

One click creates your free account or signs you in.

By continuing you agree to the Terms and Privacy Policy.

Details

Case: [2017] NSWSC 417
Decision Date: 24 April 2017

CaseChat Overview and Summary

Favetti Bricklaying Pty Limited was engaged in a dispute with Benedek regarding a workers' compensation claim. The dispute involved whether the insurer, Favetti Bricklaying, had correctly denied liability for an injury that Benedek alleged he sustained at work. The matter was before the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia. The primary legal issue before the Court was the interpretation of the relevant provisions of the workers' compensation legislation. Specifically, the Court had to determine whether the matter should have been referred to an Approved Medical Specialist or to the Commission for a determination of liability when the insurer had denied the claim.

The Court examined the statutory framework and found that the plain meaning of the text indicated that the matter should be referred to the Commission for a determination of liability when there was a dispute about the insurer's liability. The Court found that referring the matter to an Approved Medical Specialist was inappropriate when the insurer had denied liability, as it would not address the core issue of whether the injury was work-related. The Court concluded that any other interpretation would lead to unintended consequences, such as bypassing the statutory requirement for a Commission determination in cases of liability disputes. Consequently, the Court found that the referral to an Approved Medical Specialist was an error, as it did not align with the clear meaning of the statutory provisions.

Orders