New South Wales Consolidated Acts

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WORKPLACE INJURY MANAGEMENT AND WORKERS COMPENSATION ACT 1998 - SECT 136

Lawyers and agents can be requested to certify as to prohibited conduct

136 Lawyers and agents can be requested to certify as to prohibited conduct

(cf former s 148G)

(1) An employer or insurer who is liable to pay a lawyer or agent any fees, costs or other charges incurred in connection with a protected claim made by a person is entitled to request the lawyer or agent to provide a certificate under this section about the claim (unless the lawyer or agent has already provided it). The request must be in writing.
(2) A certificate under this section is a certificate that to the best of the lawyer's or agent's knowledge, no agent has engaged in prohibited conduct that involved encouraging the person to make the claim or any previous claim, except as may be disclosed in the certificate.
(3) If a certificate is requested--
(a) the lawyer or agent is not entitled to be paid by or recover from the employer or insurer any fees, costs or other charges incurred in connection with the claim concerned until the certificate is provided (even if the fees, costs or other charges are payable under an award or order of a court or Commission), and
(b) no interest that might otherwise be payable on those fees, costs or other charges is payable for the period from when the certificate is requested until it is provided (despite any order or award of a court or Commission for the payment of that interest).
(4) A lawyer or agent can provide an employer or insurer with a certificate under this section even if the employer or insurer has not requested it.
(5) A lawyer or agent who gives a certificate under this section about a claim made by a person is guilty of an offence if the lawyer or agent knew or had reasonable cause to suspect that an agent had engaged in prohibited conduct that involved encouraging the person to make the claim.
: Maximum penalty--50 penalty units.



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