Our client was a man in his 30’s man who lived with his partner and their children. He enjoyed going to the beach and enjoyed different types of water sports, such as surfing and kite sailing. He was a social person and enjoyed spending time with his partner and their friends at barbecues.
At the time of his workplace injury our client worked full-time in community services managing an aged care program and the allocation of care services, along with assisting patients. Our client worked with high job demands, lack of support from management, poor communication from management, no role clarity, and a high turnover of staff. In addition to this, our client suffered from a few traumatic events involving patients which were not addressed.
Management was informed by our client frequently of the issues he and other staff were facing however, nothing changed. Over time, staff members resigned with new staff hired to replace them, and things continued the same.
Our client suffered psychologically with all he experienced and eventually lodged a Workers Compensation claim due to suffering from anxiety and panic attacks and was diagnosed with severe depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Our client sought the advice of one of our expert personal injury lawyers with respect to his Workers Compensation claim as his diagnosis had become significantly worse over time and he was not able to return to any form of work.
We obtained investigator statements, witness statements and other medical evidence on behalf of our client. Expert opinion reports on our client’s psychological injuries were obtained and all reports indicated a catastrophic decline to his psychological injuries and indicated that our client would not be capable to perform any kind of activity or return to work in the future. A Medical Assessment Certificate was requested by the Personal Injury Commission and our client was assessed at 24% whole person impairment.
It was at this point our client sought further advice from one of our expert personal injury lawyers with respect to preparing a claim for Work Injury Damages, also known as a common law claim.
To make a claim for Work Injury Damages, you are required to prove that:
- The injury resulted due to the employer’s negligence,
- You must have at least 15% whole person impairment, which must be accepted by the insurer or by the Personal Injury Commission,
- You must have already received all statutory lump sum entitlements.
A report from suitably qualified experts were obtained to provide opinions as to whether:
- the employer was negligent for failing to provide Work, Health, and Safety training to the client,
- the employer provided safe system of work, and
- sufficient training was provided to carry out the client’s job adequately.
A mediation was organised with the insurer where we provided the relevant expert opinion reports on liability, investigator’s statements, medical evidence, and income loss documents. Ultimately, the insurer made an offer of more than $500,000.00 and our client was happy to accept the offer to resolve his claim.