Hunter Quarries Pty Ltd v Alexandra Mexon as Administrator for the Estate of the Late Ryan Messenger

(2018) 98 NSWLR 526; [2018] NSWCA 178

NSW Court of Appeal

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Workers Compensation
2. › Compensation for permanent impairment
3. › Meaning of 'permanent impairment'
4. › Whether expression encompasses impairment where death inevitably follows within short time frame
5. › Whether there must be continued and enduring experience of living
6. › Workers Compensation Act 1987 (NSW), ss 65, 66
7. › Workplace Injury Management and Workers Compensation Act 1998 (NSW), ss 3, 322
1. Statutory Interpretation
2. › Words and phrases
3. › 'Permanent impairment'
4. › Ordinary meaning in statutory context
5. › Whether temporal element inherent in expression
6. › Workers Compensation Act 1987 (NSW), s 66
1. Administrative Law
2. › Judicial review
3. › Workers Compensation Commission Appeal Panel
4. › Error of law
5. › Whether Appeal Panel applied wrong construction of statutory term
6. › Workplace Injury Management and Workers Compensation Act 1998 (NSW), ss 327, 376

Quick Take

The expression 'permanent impairment' in ss 65 and 66 of the Workers Compensation Act 1987 (NSW) requires some continued and enduring experience of living and does not encompass impairment resulting from an injury so serious that death will inevitably follow within a short time frame, such that estates of workers who die within minutes of a fatal workplace injury are not entitled to s 66 compensation.