In Brief
- A decision-maker fails to provide a proper path of reasoning if it states a conclusion without explaining how they came to that conclusion by reference to the evidence before them.
- A decision-maker denies a party procedural fairness if it decides a dispute on a basis not put by the parties without giving the parties a chance to be heard..
Facts
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.
The Supreme Court's Decision
Justice Adamson allowed the Insurer's application for two reasons:
- Failure to Give Reasons – the Review Panel failed to include any information in its reasons to explain its finding that the accident caused a lumbar disc cartilage. As such, the Panel failed to meet the standard required by Wingfoot Australia Partners Pty Ltd v Kocak (2013) 252 CLR 480; [2013] HCA 43 because the Panel failed to set out the actual path of reasoning which led to its conclusion.
- Denial of Procedural Fairness – the Review Panel found a lumbar cartilage tear in circumstances where neither party presented any evidence or submissions with regard to the presence of a lumbar cartilage tear and neither party could have contemplated that the Review Panel would resolve the dispute on the grounds of a lumbar cartilage tear. The Panel denied the Insurer procedural fairness because it failed to alert the Insurer to its thinking and give the Insurer an opportunity to be heard on the cartilage tear issue.
Why This Case is Important
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.
Additional McCabes Resources
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
