In this matter a worker suffered from an “insidious disease”, namely peripheral neuropathy. Under the Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003 it is required that a notice of claim in respect of such a disease be lodged no more than six months after the diagnosis of the condition by a doctor. In this case, the notice of claim was lodged 2 years 10 months after diagnosis. The court considered whether the appellant’s application was out of time and whether failure to lodge was due to mistake or a reasonable cause.
Scott McLeod was directly instructed by the respondent.
The judgment is available here.
