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MOTOR ACCIDENTS COMPENSATION ACT 1999 - SECT 61
Status of medical assessments
61 Status of medical assessments
(1) The medical assessor or assessors to whom a medical dispute is referred is
or are to give a certificate as to the matters referred for assessment.
(2)
Any such certificate as to a medical assessment matter is conclusive evidence
as to the matters certified in any court proceedings or in any assessment by
the Commission in respect of the claim concerned.
(4) In any court
proceedings, the court may (despite anything to the contrary in this section)
reject a certificate as to all or any of the matters certified in it, on the
grounds of denial of procedural fairness to a party to the proceedings in
connection with the issue of the certificate, but only if the court is
satisfied that admission of the certificate as to the matter or matters
concerned would cause substantial injustice to that party.
(5) If a
certificate as to any matter is rejected under subsection (4), the court is to
refer that matter again for assessment under this Part and adjourn the
proceedings until a further certificate is given and admitted in evidence in
the proceedings.
(6) However, if a certificate as to whether or not the
degree of permanent impairment of the injured person is greater than 10% is
rejected under subsection (4), the court may, if it considers it appropriate,
substitute a determination of the court as to the degree of permanent
impairment of the injured person (assessed by the court in accordance with
section 133) instead of referring that matter again for assessment under this
Part.
(7) Except as provided by subsection (6), a court may not substitute
its own determination as to any medical assessment matter.
(8) This section--
(a) does not prevent a court from referring a matter again for assessment
under this Part (as provided for by section 62), and
(b) does not require a
court to refer a matter again for assessment under this Part if the matter is
not a medical assessment matter.
(9) A certificate is to set out the reasons
for any finding by the medical assessor or assessors as to any matter
certified in the certificate in respect of which the certificate is conclusive
evidence.
(10) The following procedure is to apply if the assessment of more
than one medical assessor is required to assess whether the degree of
permanent impairment of the injured person is greater than 10% (not being an
assessment of the degree of permanent impairment resulting from psychiatric or
psychological injury)-- (a) each medical assessor is to give a certificate as
to the degree of permanent impairment of the injured person resulting from the
particular injury or injuries with which the medical assessor's assessment is
concerned,
(b) based on the matters certified in each such certificate a
medical assessor nominated by the President for the purpose is to make an
assessment of the total degree of permanent impairment resulting from all the
injuries with which those certificates are concerned and is to give a
certificate (a
"combined certificate" ) as to that total degree of permanent impairment,
(c)
the combined certificate is conclusive evidence as to whether the degree of
permanent impairment of the injured person is greater than 10% and this
section applies to the combined certificate accordingly.
(11) If a
medical assessor is satisfied that a certificate under this section contains
an obvious error, the medical assessor may issue a replacement certificate to
correct the error.
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