Peter Hunt
Consultant
The Supreme Court delivered its decision in Insurance Australia Ltd trading as NRMA Insurance v Cahill [2025] NSWSC 828on 25 July 2025.
The Claimant was injured in a motor accident on 9 July 2020.
The Insurer subsequently determined that the Claimant was not entitled to ongoing statutory benefits (or common law damages) because the injury to this lumbar spine was a threshold injury.
The threshold injury dispute proceeded to a PIC Medical Assessment. The original Medical Assessor determined that the accident did not cause any injury to the Claimant’s lumbar spine and that any lumbar complaints were caused by pre-existing multiple sclerosis.
The Claimant successfully sought a referral to the Review Panel. The Review Panel disagreed with the original Medical Assessor and found that the accident caused a non-threshold injury to the lumbar spine based on a tear of the lumbar disc cartilage.
The Insurer sought Judicial Review in the Supreme Court.
Justice Adamson allowed the Insurer’s application for two reasons:
The Supreme Court’s decision in Cahill confirms the high onus on a PIC Medical Assessor or a PIC Review Panel to give proper reasons for their decision. In this dispute, the Review Panel fell short of the required standard by making an apparently random decision without either explaining their thinking of giving the parties a chance to be heard on the random conclusion it reached.
If you would like to discuss this case note, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with CTP Insurance Principal Peter Hunt today.