Strbac v QBE Insurance (Australia) Limited

The applicants, Strbac and his wife, brought an application for judicial review of a decision made by the respondent, QBE Insurance, in relation to the assessment of Strbac's workers' compensation claim. The dispute centred on the determination of the degree of impairment caused by Strbac's injury and the subsequent entitlement to compensation. The case was heard in the Federal Court of Australia.

The primary legal issue the court had to address was whether the decision-makers had erred in assessing the degree of Strbac's impairment. Specifically, the court needed to determine whether the errors identified by the applicants constituted an error on the face of the record or a jurisdictional error. An error on the face of the record is one that is apparent from the record itself, while a jurisdictional error involves a failure to exercise a statutory power or function correctly.

In examining the decision-making process, the court found that the decision-makers had failed to properly consider certain evidence and had made findings that were not supported by the evidence. This was held to be a jurisdictional error as it demonstrated a failure to correctly exercise the statutory power to assess the degree of impairment. Consequently, the court determined that the decision was flawed and ordered a re-assessment of Strbac's impairment by a different panel. The court also highlighted the importance of decision-makers thoroughly reviewing all relevant evidence and providing clear reasons for their decisions to avoid similar errors in the future.