AI Law Framework

Memo · Personal Injury & Compensation

Mediation paper and final offer for a NSW work injury damages claim

The worker's statement of issues for a Personal Injury Commission mediation of a work injury damages claim, and the final offer recorded if the claim does not settle. Court proceedings are not started before that mediation unless an exception applies.

Kind
Memo. An internal or advice memo.
Where it applies
New South Wales
AI use
Yellow You and the tool draft together, with you directing. You check every statement you rely on.
Law stated as at
23 October 2026
Status
Maintained. Checked on 23 October 2026 against the 2 authorities it cites, for New South Wales.
Version
1
Source
Written for this library

When to use it

Use when a New South Wales work injury damages claim is being prepared for mediation in the Personal Injury Commission under Procedural Direction WC4. The client approves the final offer. The offer is not put into a pleading or shown to the court before damages are determined.

Used for these tasks

Each task page says how far AI may help with the task and what the lawyer must review.

How AI may be used

The tool may assemble the issues paper and leave the final-offer amount blank, and the lawyer fixes that amount and checks the mediation exceptions before the paper is used.

AI may

  • List the issues from the pre-filing statement and the documents the lawyer has selected
  • Record who will attend, including whether a third party has only been invited
  • Leave the final-offer line blank until the lawyer inserts the client's figure
  • Keep the warning that the offer is not placed in a document filed in the court proceedings

AI must not

  • Must not choose or change the final-offer amount
  • Must not tell the worker that mediation can be skipped unless the lawyer has marked one of the two exceptions
  • Must not put the final offer into a pleading, an affidavit or another document filed in the court proceedings
  • Must not treat section 318, which limits what may be pleaded, as the section that creates this offer

The lawyer checks

  • Mediation is required before court proceedings, unless the defendant did not respond to the pre-filing statement within 42 days, or the defendant wholly disputes liability and declines to participate
  • The claim is not referred until at least 28 days after the pre-filing statement was served. The sealed application is served within 7 days of registration, and a certificate of service is lodged within 7 days of service
  • The worker and the insurer's claims officer attend. A third party who is not the employer may be invited and cannot be compelled
  • If there is no agreement, the mediator certifies the final offers. WC4 cites section 318B for that certificate and section 318E for the bar on putting a mediation offer in a filed court document or before the court before damages are determined
  • The SIRA guide says those offers are not disclosed to the court until the matter is determined. The sections it links, including sections 281, 315, 316 and 318A, were not opened as statute text
  • The SIRA guide says the pre-filing attachments include a medical assessor's certificate, or the insurer's acceptance, that permanent impairment is at least 15 per cent. Confirm that threshold in the Act
  • WC4 paragraphs 61 to 65 set in-person controls, including vaccination and a RAT. The direction commenced on 8 June 2022. Confirm with the Commission whether those controls still apply
  • The insurer's own offer under the guide is a different document. This paper is the worker's mediation paper and final offer
  • Health information and wage records stay in the firm-controlled tool. Conduct rules and privacy principles were not opened

Method: how the Green, Yellow and Red levels are decided. This is guidance for planning, not legal advice.

Authorities

Read the full text

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