Fisher v Nonconformist Pty Ltd

Fisher v Nonconformist Pty Ltd was a workers compensation case before the court. The deceased, Mr Clifford, had a heart attack while driving for work, resulting in a car crash and his death. The issue was whether this injury was sustained in accordance with section 4 of the Workers Compensation Act 1987 and whether the deceased's employment was a substantial contributing factor to the injury under section 9A of the Act. Dr Helprin's expert reports suggested that the nature of the deceased's employment, particularly his exposure to environmental air pollution and stress, significantly contributed to the injury. The court needed to decide if the injury arose out of, or in the course of, the deceased's employment and whether the nature of the employment was a substantial contributing factor to the injury.

The court examined the statutory matters and the expert evidence provided. It applied the test in Badawi v Nexon Asia Pacific Pty Ltd t/as Commander Australia Pty Ltd, noting that decision makers are not confined to the statutory matters. The court also referred to epidemiological studies and expert evidence, applying the approach from Seltsam Pty Ltd v McGuiness and Hancock v East Coast Timber Products Pty Limited. The court considered whether there was an error in the failure to respond to a clearly articulated argument but found no such error, applying principles from Dranichnikov v Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs and Wang v State of NSW.

The court concluded that the deceased's employment was a substantial contributing factor to the injury of ventricular fibrillation, which occurred while he was driving his car for work. The court confirmed the Member's Certificate of Determination dated 6 May 2022 and extended the third appellant's time to appeal to 8 June 2022.