A trial judge may find for a plaintiff on the basis that the whole of the evidence supports an inference of negligence, even where the plaintiff's precise account of the mechanism of injury is not accepted, provided the injury is established as occurring in circumstances amounting to a breach of duty. An assessment of non-economic loss under s 151G(2) of the Workers Compensation Act 1987 that is irreconcilable with the trial judge's own findings about the moderate nature of the plaintiff's complaints will be set aside as manifestly unreasonable. The case also illustrates the severe cliff-edge effect of the statutory threshold in s 151H(2A)(b), where a reduction from 30% to 20% of a most extreme case eliminates all entitlement to economic loss damages.
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