AAI Limited v Marinkovic

[2017] QCA 54

Queensland Court of Appeal

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Damages
2. › Personal injuries
3. › Assessment of damages
4. › Lost earning capacity
5. › Unreliable tax returns
6. › Whether court may assess loss on other evidence
7. › Whether tax return figures must be adopted
8. › Civil Liability Act 2003 (Qld), ss 54, 55
1. Damages
2. › Personal injuries
3. › Assessment of damages
4. › Injury Severity Value (ISV)
5. › Multiple injuries
6. › Dominant injury identification
7. › Uplift exceeding 25 per cent
8. › Whether adequate reasons given
9. › Civil Liability Regulation 2014 (Qld), sch 3, ss 3, 4, 5, sch 4
1. Damages
2. › Personal injuries
3. › Assessment of damages
4. › Credibility of plaintiff
5. › Tax returns found unreliable
6. › Whether finding that tax returns were 'works of fiction' required wholesale rejection of plaintiff's evidence
1. Practice and Procedure
2. › Pleadings
3. › Statement of Loss and Damage
4. › Whether award may exceed amount in Statement of Loss and Damage
5. › Whether Statement of Loss and Damage is a pleading
6. › Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 1999 (Qld), rr 151(1)(b), 155, 547

Quick Take

A court assessing personal injury damages is not bound to adopt income figures from tax returns found to be unreliable; if sufficient other evidence exists to form a judgment on lost earning capacity, the court is entitled to do so. The passage in Giorginis v Kastrati (1988) 49 SASR 371 at 376 requiring adoption of tax return figures should not be followed. A Statement of Loss and Damage under UCPR r 547 is not a pleading and does not limit the quantum of damages that may be awarded at trial. A finding that a plaintiff's tax returns are 'works of fiction' does not require wholesale rejection of the plaintiff's evidence on all matters; a trial judge may selectively accept evidence on core matters where supported by medical and other evidence.