Mitchell v Canal Rocks Beach Resort

[2002] WASCA 331

Western Australia Court of Appeal

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For Australian Law.

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Workers' Compensation
2. › Partial incapacity
3. › Weekly payments
4. › Onus of proof
5. › Whether burden on worker to establish earning capacity in suitable employment
6. › Workers' Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 1981 (WA), Schedule 1, cl 7(2)
1. Workers' Compensation
2. › Compensation Magistrate's Court
3. › Jurisdiction and powers
4. › Not bound by legal precedent
5. › Whether provision relieves court of duty to apply law as determined by Supreme Court
6. › Workers' Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 1981 (WA), s 116
1. Practice and Procedure
2. › Precedent
3. › Statutory tribunals
4. › Effect of statutory provision that tribunal not bound by legal precedent
5. › Distinction between binding precedent and duty to apply the law
1. Evidence
2. › Onus of proof
3. › Workers' compensation proceedings
4. › Normal rule that person who asserts must prove
5. › No shifting of evidentiary burden absent evidence from claimant

Quick Take

A worker claiming partial incapacity under cl 7(2) of Schedule 1 bears the onus of proving what they are able to earn in suitable employment and that this is less than pre-accident earnings. There is no antecedent evidentiary burden on the employer to identify specific alternative occupations. The statutory provision that the Compensation Magistrate's Court is 'not bound by legal precedent' does not relieve it of the duty to apply the law as determined by the Supreme Court on appeal.