This rare referral to the High Court makes clear that the narrative test of serious injury laid down by the Victorian Supreme Court in Humphries v Poljak1 25 years ago remains good law. There must be a subjective assessment of a claimant’s injury and the impact this has had on him/her and thereafter an objective assessment, to determine how that injury sits on the spectrum of comparable cases, considering all factors.
A similar test of serious injury exists in the Accident Compensation Act 1985 (Vic) and Workplace Injury and Compensation Act 2013 (Vic). Accordingly, this decision of the High Court is equally relevant to common law claims that arise in a workplace context, which potentially involve a range of defendants, including host-employers, manufactures and occupiers.
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