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Snapshot

  • Under ss 3.11(1) and 3.28(1) of the Motor Accident Injuries Act 2017, an injured person is not entitled to statutory benefits more than 26 weeks after the accident if the person’s only injuries were minor injuries.
  • Under s 4.4, no damages may be awarded to an injured person if their only injuries were minor injuries .
  • The Law Society has made a submission in response to the State Insurance Regulatory Authority’s current review of the minor injury definition.

In the third article of our series about the NSW CTP scheme, we take a closer look at minor injuries under the Motor Accident Injuries Act 2017 (NSW) (‘the Act’). Practitioners will be familiar with the assessment of Whole Person Impairment (‘WPI’) under the Motor Accident Compensation Act (‘MAC Act’). WPI under the MIA Act is still important because a greater than 10 per cent WPI remains the gateway for non-economic loss. However, the MAI Act introduces the new concept of ‘minor injury’ as a mechanism for cutting off statutory benefits six months after the accident and limiting the ability to claim any common law damages.

The Act defines ‘minor injury’ at s 1.6 and empowers the Motor Accident Injuries Regulation 2017 (‘Regulation‘) to specify individual or particular injuries that are, or or are not, minor injuries.

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