O'Brien Glass Industries Ltd v Pisani

O'Brien Glass Industries Ltd applied for judicial review of a decision by a medical panel that determined the plaintiff, a worker, was unable to perform her pre-injury employment due to the risk of recurrence of her injury, which occurred while installing a windscreen, and resulted in ongoing pain in her wrists and hands. The Supreme Court of Victoria was asked to consider the employer's contention that there could be no compensable incapacity for work beyond the date on which the injury was found to have 'resolved', and whether the panel's findings as to the risk of the worker's medical condition re-occurring by a return to work were sufficient to justify a finding of a compensable incapacity for work.

The court found that there was no jurisdictional error in the panel's determination, and it was open to the panel to make a finding of a compensable incapacity for work. The court held that it was not necessary to consider whether the panel's finding was 'grossly illogical or irrational', as the panel had taken into account mandatory relevant considerations, and the reasons provided were adequate. The court also found that the panel had considered the relevant factors in determining the causal relationship between the employment and the alleged injury.

The application for judicial review was dismissed, and the panel's decision was upheld. The court found that the panel had properly exercised its discretion in making its findings, and there was no error in law or inadequate reasons. The court also found that the panel's finding that there was a 'propensity' for the injury to re-occur was sufficient to ground an ongoing incapacity. The employer's application was dismissed with costs.