The statutory threshold of six hours per week for gratuitous domestic assistance under s 15 of the Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW) must be assessed on a weekly basis and cannot be met by averaging hours over many weeks. Where a plaintiff's complaint of injury is delayed by many months and an alternative cause is identified, the absence of contemporaneous medical complaint creates a strong inference against causal connection. An award for future domestic assistance at commercial rates requires evidence that the gratuitous provider will not continue to provide services; a plaintiff's mere preference for commercial assistance is insufficient. There remains an unresolved question within the NSWCA as to whether the assessment of future commercial domestic assistance is governed by the balance of probabilities or by the Malec approach to future possibilities.
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