Insurance Australia Ltd v Clewley
[2015] NSWSC 1805
At a glance
Source factsCourt
Supreme Court of NSW
Decision date
2015-12-07
Before
Fagan J
Source
Original judgment source is linked above.
Judgment (12 paragraphs)
Judgment
- The plaintiff is the third party insurer under the Motor Accidents Compensation Act 1999 (NSW) ("the Act") of a motor vehicle which is alleged to have been at fault in an accident on 1 December 2010. The first defendant is Mr Clewley, a claimant for compensation under the Act, who contends that he suffered injury in that motor accident.
- By summons filed 7 October 2015 the plaintiff seeks judicial review of a decision by the proper officer of the Motor Accidents Authority of NSW ("the Authority"). The proper officer is the second defendant to the summons and the Authority is the third defendant (now under its new name, State Insurance Regulatory Authority). The decision sought to be reviewed was made on 7 August 2015 pursuant to s 62 of the Act. The proper officer determined that a medical dispute between Mr Clewley ("the claimant") and the plaintiff concerning the degree of whole person impairment suffered as a result of the motor accident should not be referred to a medical assessor for further assessment.
- The claimant alleges that the accident caused soft tissue injuries to his left knee, his left shoulder and his cervical spine. Only the injury to the cervical spine and alleged symptoms in his left arm are significant for the purposes of these proceedings. The claimant says that the cervical spinal injury has caused dystonia (meaning spasm or abnormal contraction) in the muscles of the left side of his neck, leading to torticollis (an irresistible turning of the head resulting in it being held persistently to the left side).