ARTICLE · 06 AUGUST 2025

Review panel finds rotator cuff tear sustained during treatment is a non-threshold injury

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A treatment-related rotator cuff tear was ruled a non-threshold injury linked to a motor accident, as it wasn't caused by gross negligence.

AustraliaLitigation, Mediation & Arbitration

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In Brief

At Common Law, injury sustained during the application of reasonable and necessary treatment may have been caused by the motor accident unless the application of the treatment is grossly negligent.
A rotator cuff tear sustained during treatment for a frozen shoulder was, therefore, found to be a non-threshold injury.
The Court of Appeal has previously doubted, however, whether consequential surgery can transform a threshold injury into a non-threshold injury – see Mandoukos v Allianz Australia Insurance Limited [2024] NSWCA 71.

Facts

The PIC published its decision in Gibbin v AAI Ltd t/as GIO [2025] NSWPICMP 523 on 1 August 2025.

The Claimant was injured in a motor accident on 21 March 2019 when the vehicle she was driving was struck from behind at 80 kph.

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