Support for injured motorists, if they can afford it

A recent decision of the Personal Injury Commission ("PIC") has outlined a significant legislative flaw in NSW's CTP scheme and rendered injured motorists powerless to overturn adverse decisions about their treatment made by insurers unless they have pockets deep enough to afford the treatment themselves.

In Obeid v AAI Ltd t/as AAMI [2022] NSWPICMP 76¹, the claimant was injured in a motor vehicle accident that occurred in March 2020. The insurer accepted that they insured the owner and driver of the other motor vehicle and therefore were liable to pay Mr Obeid any damages and/or statutory compensation entitlements, whilst also accepting that he had suffered a non-minor injury meaning that liability to make statutory payments extended beyond the 26-week period, as required by the Motor Accident Injuries Act 2017 (the "MAI Act").