Pendlebury and TT Line Company Pty Ltd (Compensation)

This matter concerned an application by Mr Pendlebury against TT Line Company Pty Ltd for workers' compensation. The applicant claimed compensation for a back injury sustained on 8 May 2020, an aggravation of a degenerative spinal condition due to the nature of his employment, and a consequential psychiatric injury. The respondent had determined no present liability to pay compensation. The applications were heard together by the Tribunal.

The legal issues before the Tribunal were whether the applicant had suffered a compensable injury, specifically whether his degenerative spinal condition was contributed to by the nature of his work, and whether he had sustained an injury on 8 May 2020. The parties also agreed that if the applicant was successful on either of these injury claims, the consequential psychiatric injury would be conceded as compensable. The Tribunal was required to consider expert medical evidence to determine these issues.

The Tribunal found that the applicant suffered from a degenerative spinal condition, lumbar spondylosis, which was contributed to by the nature of his employment with the respondent from 2003 to 8 May 2020. The Tribunal accepted that the applicant sustained an injury on 8 May 2020, finding that a typographical error in his statement explained his description of the action. Furthermore, the Tribunal acknowledged the concession by the respondent that the applicant suffered a consequential psychiatric injury if successful on his other claims.

Consequently, the Tribunal set aside the reviewable decisions and substituted new decisions. It found that the applicant continued to suffer from the effects of the spinal injury sustained on 8 May 2020, and that his degenerative spinal condition was aggravated and accelerated by his employment. The Tribunal determined the applicant was totally incapacitated for work and that the respondent had an ongoing liability for incapacity payments and medical expenses. The claims were remitted to the respondent for determination of entitlements, and the respondent was ordered to pay the applicant's costs.