Waite v Alcoa of Australia Ltd

[2020] WASCA 1

Western Australia Court of Appeal

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Workers' Compensation
2. › Personal injury by accident
3. › Whether worker established identifiable physiological change
4. › Assessment of medical evidence by arbitrator
5. › Whether arbitrator's finding involved error of law
6. › Workers' Compensation and Injury Management Act 1981 (WA), s 5(1)
1. Appeal
2. › Appeal on question of law only
3. › Workers' compensation appeal
4. › Whether grounds of appeal related to questions of law
5. › Distinction between questions of law and questions of fact
6. › Workers' Compensation and Injury Management Act 1981 (WA), s 254
1. Appeal
2. › Leave to appeal
3. › Workers' compensation
4. › Whether substantial injustice if decision left unreversed
5. › Failure to challenge alternative basis for dismissal
1. Evidence
2. › Assessment of medical evidence
3. › Weight to be given to medical opinions
4. › Whether arbitrator bound to accept medical evidence
5. › Whether sufficiency of evidence is question of fact or law

Quick Take

A workers' compensation claimant who bears the onus of proof cannot convert a failure to discharge that onus into an error of law by the arbitrator. Whether evidence ought to have been accepted as sufficient to establish a fact is itself a question of fact, not a question of law. Where a claim is dismissed on alternative bases, failure to challenge one basis on appeal means no substantial injustice results from leaving the decision unreversed.