New South Wales Consolidated Acts

WORKPLACE INJURY MANAGEMENT AND WORKERS COMPENSATION ACT 1998 - SECT 134

134 Consequences of prohibited conduct for recovery of fees by agents

(cf former s 148E)

(1) An agent is not entitled to recover from a person any fees, costs or other charges that would otherwise be payable by the person in connection with services made use of by the person if the services were made use of as a result of prohibited conduct engaged in by the agent, regardless of whether the agent has been proceeded against or convicted for an offence in respect of that prohibited conduct.

(2) If prohibited conduct engaged in by an agent involved encouraging a person to make use of services and the person makes use of those services after the conduct is engaged in, it is to be presumed for the purposes of this section that the services were made use of as a result of that prohibited conduct, unless the agent concerned establishes otherwise.

(3) If the services of an agent were made use of as a result of prohibited conduct engaged in by the agent in connection with a hearing loss claim, it is to be presumed for the purposes of this section that any services of the agent made use of in connection with a subsequent hearing loss claim in respect of further loss of hearing made by the same worker (whether or not made against the same employer) were made use of as a result of prohibited conduct engaged in by the agent, unless the agent concerned establishes otherwise.

(4) A person who has paid any amount in respect of fees, costs or other charges to an agent that the agent would not have been entitled to recover because of this section is entitled to recover the amount from the agent as a debt in a court of competent jurisdiction.