Turner v George Weston Foods Ltd Trading as Tip Top Bakeries (Newcastle); Turner v George Weston Foods Ltd

[2007] NSWCA 67

NSW Court of Appeal

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Workers' Compensation
2. › Alternative rights against employer and third parties
3. › Employer's statutory entitlement to indemnity from third party
4. › Indemnity limited to damages worker would have been entitled to
5. › Quantification of damages
6. › Correct date of assessment
7. › Whether assessed at date of trial or earlier hypothetical date
8. › Workers Compensation Act 1987 (NSW), s 151Z(1)(d)
1. Damages
2. › Assessment of damages
3. › Date of assessment
4. › Personal injury damages assessed as at date of trial
5. › Whether different date applies in statutory indemnity proceedings under s 151Z(1)(d)
1. Statutory Interpretation
2. › Purposive construction
3. › Avoiding unjust or capricious results
4. › Level of generality at which principle applies
5. › Whether anomaly must be assessed by reference to legislative objectives rather than individual case facts
6. › Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW), s 33
1. Practice and Procedure
2. › Appeals
3. › Leave to appeal
4. › Extension of time
5. › District Court Act 1973 (NSW), s 127(2)(c)

Quick Take

In an employer's claim for indemnity under s 151Z(1)(d) of the Workers Compensation Act 1987, the damages to which the injured worker would have been entitled had the worker sued the tortfeasor are assessed as at the date of the trial of the indemnity proceedings, not at some earlier hypothetical date. The solicitor's negligence authorities on date of assessment (Johnson v Perez, Nikolaou) are not analogous to s 151Z(1)(d) indemnity claims because the statutory right to indemnity is not itself a claim for damages.