The Watts v Rake and Purkess v Crittenden evidentiary burden on defendants to prove that a pre-existing condition would have led to the plaintiff's post-accident state is not displaced or modified by the statutory computation provisions of s 151G of the Workers Compensation Act 1987 (NSW). Where a plaintiff sustains injuries in multiple workplace incidents, each incident gives rise to a separate cause of action and the statutory thresholds under ss 151G and 151H must be applied to each cause of action separately. A 30% vicissitudes reduction may be appropriate where the plaintiff has a significant pre-existing back condition.
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