54Recovery of lifetime care and support payments—uninsured and interstate vehicles and third party tortfeasors

54 Recovery of lifetime care and support payments—uninsured and interstate vehicles and third party tortfeasors

54 Recovery of lifetime care and support payments—uninsured and interstate vehicles and third party tortfeasors

(1) The Authority is entitled to recover from the appropriate person as a debt due to the Authority the present value of its treatment and care liabilities in respect of the motor accident injury of a participant in the Scheme if—

(a) the injury was caused by the fault of the owner or driver of a motor vehicle in the use or operation of the vehicle, and

(b) at the time of the motor accident there was no third-party policy in force in relation to the motor vehicle concerned.

(2) If the participant suffered the motor accident injury as a result partly of the participant’s contributory negligence, the amount that the Authority is entitled to recover under this section is to be reduced in proportion to the participant’s share in the responsibility for the injury.

(3) If the participant suffered the motor accident injury as a result partly of the fault of a person (other than the owner or driver of a motor vehicle), the Authority is entitled to recover from that person as a debt due to the Authority such proportion of the present value of its treatment and care liabilities in respect of the injury as corresponds to the person’s share in the responsibility for the injury.

(4) The present value of the Authority’s treatment and care liabilities in respect of a motor accident injury is the sum of the following amounts—

(a) amounts already paid by the Authority under Part 2A in respect of the treatment and care needs associated with the motor accident injury,

(b) the present value of the amounts that the Authority estimates will become payable by the Authority in the future under Part 2A in respect of the treatment and care needs associated with the motor accident injury.

(5) The appropriate person from whom the Authority may recover is—

(a) unless paragraph (b) applies—the person who at the time of the motor accident was the owner of the motor vehicle or, if at that time some other person was driving the motor vehicle, the owner and the driver jointly or either of them severally, or

(b) if the motor vehicle was at the time of the motor accident subject to coverage under a policy of compulsory third-party personal injury insurance or a compulsory motor vehicle accident compensation scheme under the law of a place other than New South Wales or under a law of the Commonwealth—the insurer under that policy or the person liable under that scheme.