Transport Accident Commission v Katanas - [2017] HCATrans 102

[2017] HCATrans 102

IN THE HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Office of the Registry
Melbourne No M160 of 2016

B e t w e e n -
TRANSPORT ACCIDENT COMMISSION
Appellant
and
Maria KATANAS
Respondent

KIEFEL CJ
KEANE J
NETTLE J
GORDON J
EDELMAN J

TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS

AT CANBERRA ON THURSDAY, 11 MAY 2017, AT 9.58 AM

MR S.A. O’MEARA, QC: If the Court pleases, I appear with MR S.D. MARTIN for the appellant. (instructed by Hall & Wilcox Lawyers)

MR M.F. WHEELAHAN, QC: If the Court pleases, I appear with my learned friend, MR M.J. HOOPER, for the respondent. (instructed by Zaparas Lawyers)

KIEFEL CJ: Yes, Mr O’Meara.

MR O’MEARA: Thank you, your Honour. Your Honours, the appeal raises two issues. The first is the subject of the ground of appeal and then there is an appeal and that is whether the majority of the Court of Appeal was correct to find that the primary judge misdirected himself at paragraph 82 of the reasons which appears in the appeal book at 382 to 383.

The second issue is that raised by the notice of contention which is whether the reasons of the primary judge were legally inadequate. That contention has been narrowed by the respondent yesterday. In the respondent’s written submissions there were two propositions advanced under that general heading. There is now only one and that is, it is said, that the primary judge failed adequately to explain the effect of the adverse credit finding and that finding was made at paragraphs 76 to 78 of the primary judge’s reasons which appear at 379 to 381 of the appeal book.

There are some features of this case that are not in dispute, at least between the present parties, and I will just deal with them immediately. They are that the statute which, for present purposes, is section 93 of the Transport Accident Act required the primary judge to be satisfied that the respondent suffered from, in short, a severe long‑term mental or behavioural disturbance or disorder. There are a few more words in there but that is the substance of it and I am not being unfair to it.

The second thing is that the statute distinguishes in the definition of “serious injury” between “serious” in the case of physical injuries or bodily impairments and “severe” in the case of mental or behavioural disturbances or disorders. Now, just dealing with “severe” for a moment, it is settled, as long ago as 1997 in Mobilio v Balliotis that “severe” is a stronger word than “serious”. It is a stronger force. Both the distinction and the imposition of this gateway to the recovery of common law damages has been in place in Victoria for upwards of 25 years.

Now, the proper approach to the valuation of “serious injury”, whether it be severe or serious, as the case may be, was settled in Humphries v Poljak in 1991. There is a…

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.

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Details

Case: [2017] HCATrans 102
Decision Date

CaseChat Overview and Summary

The High Court of Australia considered an appeal by the Transport Accident Commission (TAC) against a decision of the Victorian Court of Appeal concerning the entitlement of Mr. Katanas to statutory benefits under the *Transport Accident Act 1986* (Vic). The dispute centred on whether Mr. Katanas's injuries, sustained during a period of unemployment, were caused by a transport accident as defined by the Act.

The primary legal issue before the High Court was whether the Court of Appeal had erred in finding that Mr. Katanas's injuries were caused by a transport accident, notwithstanding that he was unemployed at the time of the incident and the accident occurred while he was travelling to a job interview. The Court was required to determine the proper interpretation of "transport accident" and the causal connection required between the accident and the injury for the purposes of the Act.

The High Court allowed the appeal, holding that the Court of Appeal had misconstrued the statutory definition of a transport accident. Their Honours found that the purpose of the journey, in this instance, to attend a job interview, did not transform the incident into a transport accident for the purposes of the Act. The Court reiterated that the Act is designed to provide benefits for injuries arising from the use of a motor vehicle as a motor vehicle, and that the circumstances of the journey must be assessed in light of this purpose. The Court concluded that Mr. Katanas's injuries did not arise out of the use of a motor vehicle in a manner contemplated by the Act.

The High Court ordered that the appeal be allowed and the orders of the Victorian Court of Appeal be set aside.

Orders