Australia: Personal Injury

NSW emergency service volunteers who suffer workplace injuries resulting in permanent impairment may be entitled to lump sum compensation. Understanding the assessment thresholds, timing requirements, and common disputes in permanent impairment claims is essential for maximizing entitlements under the statutory framework.

In workers' compensation claims for hearing loss, establishing the 'last noisy employer' requires more than simply proving machinery was present in the workplace. A recent NSW Personal Injury Commission decision examines what evidence is sufficient to demonstrate that employment created a real risk of hearing loss, and when a worker's recollection may be too unreliable to discharge the burden of proof.

Nurses and other healthcare workers who suffer injuries while caring for patients in hospitals, aged care facilities, or other clinical settings often ask whether their employer may be legally responsible for the harm they have suffered.

When workers claim newly identified injuries under pre-existing workers' compensation claims, insurers face complex evidentiary challenges. The Ma'ilei v Unisson Disability case demonstrates how medical evidence and contemporaneous documentation determine the outcome of claims for cervical spine, lumbar spine, and psychological injuries stemming from a single workplace incident.

The NSW District Court awarded the State a complete indemnity against a former teacher following a $755,000 settlement of an institutional child sexual abuse claim.

A NSW Medical Appeal Panel has clarified when sleep disturbance can be assessed as a separate impairment under workers compensation law. The decision establishes strict criteria requiring a primary sleep disorder following neurological injury, rather than sleep problems secondary to pain or other compensable conditions.

The Supreme Court of New South Wales has dismissed a delayed diagnosis claim against two medical practitioners arising from an alleged failure to diagnose syphilis in 2018. The proceedings were determined following an application by the defendants under rule 29.10 of the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW).

When workers suffer repeated injuries to the same body part over years of employment, a critical question emerges: can permanent impairments from separate incidents be combined if they result in identical pathology?

The plaintiff was injured during a yacht racing collision and brought proceedings against the defendants, who argued that yacht racing was a 'dangerous recreational activity' such that no duty of care was owed under the Civil Liability Act.