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CIVIL LIABILITY ACT 1936 - SECT 56A

56A—Additional provisions relating to motor vehicle injuries (economic loss)

        (1)         Any entitlement to damages for economic loss in relation to personal injury arising from an MVA motor accident applies subject to the provisions of this section.

        (2)         A person who suffers personal injury arising from an MVA motor accident may only be awarded damages for loss or impairment of future earning capacity if the injury scale value that applies under the regulations in relation to the injury exceeds 7.

        (3)         However, a court may award damages in a case that would otherwise be excluded by operation of subsection (2) if satisfied—

            (a)         that the consequences of the personal injury with respect to loss or impairment of future earning capacity are exceptional; and

            (b)         that the application of the threshold set by that subsection would, in the circumstances of the particular case, be harsh and unjust.

        (4)         In assessing damages for loss or impairment of future earning capacity in relation to personal injury arising from an MVA motor accident (other than with respect to a discount that would, apart from this section, be made for the usual vicissitudes of life)—

            (a)         a court must not take into account—

                  (i)         any inference as to a circumstance in respect of which the court is unable to evaluate the chance of it occurring; or

                  (ii)         any inference as to a circumstance that the court evaluates as having less than a 20% chance of occurring; and

            (b)         an award of damages must be arrived at by taking into account the several circumstances on which a court may rely, the chance of each occurring, and the combination of those chances; and

            (c)         a court must, when making an award of damages, state—

                  (i)         the circumstances that have been taken into account for the purposes of the award; and

                  (ii)         the inferences that the court has drawn from those circumstances; and

                  (iii)         the court's evaluation of the chances of each circumstance relied on occurring; and

                  (iv)         its determination of the resultant award of damages.

        (5)         Damages awarded for any form of loss or impairment of earning capacity (whether past or future) in relation to personal injury arising from an MVA motor accident must, after applying a discount rate (if any), and any other principle arising under this Act or at common law, including so as to take into account any actual or presumed contributory negligence, be discounted by a further 20%.

        (6)         The maximum amount of damages that may be awarded to an employed person for loss in relation to personal injury arising from an MVA motor accident due to the loss of employer superannuation contributions is the relevant percentage of damages payable for the loss or impairment of the earning capacity on which the entitlement to those contributions is based.

        (7)         In subsection (6)—

"relevant percentage" means the percentage of earnings that is the minimum percentage required by law to be paid as employer superannuation contributions.

        (8)         The maximum amount of damages that may be awarded to a self-employed person for economic loss in relation to personal injury arising from an MVA motor accident due to the loss of superannuation contributions made by or on behalf of the person is the relevant percentage of damages payable for the loss or impairment of the earning capacity on which the entitlement to those contributions is based (but nothing in this subsection gives rise to an entitlement to damages beyond damages awarded for loss or impairment of earning capacity).

        (9)         In subsection (8)—

"relevant percentage" means the percentage of earnings that is the minimum percentage required by law to be paid as employer superannuation contributions for the benefit of an employee who earns the same amount as the self-employed person.



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