In the case of Allen v Robbie [2015] NSWCA 247 the Defendant insurer had appealed against the rejection of the forensic accounting report commissioned by it for District Court proceedings.
The District Court judge had rejected the Defendant’s forensic accountant report prefaced upon the grounds that he had no special or particular knowledge or understanding of the enterprise in which the Plaintiff was engaged and which generated her income.
The Defendant’s forensic accountant had proffered an opinion that the Plaintiff’s claim for past and future economic loss had been grossly overstated.
The report contended that the Plaintiff’s pre and post accident remuneration had been paid at the discretion of the employer and was not correlated to the actual commercial value of her work.
The Court of Appeal held that the opinion was based upon an unfounded assumption that the Plaintiff’s pre accident employment remuneration did not accurately reflect her earning capacity. There was no evidence that supported the assumption and the opinion was regarded by the Court of Appeal as amounting to speculation.
The Uniform Civil Procedure Rules and APES215 stipulate the requirements for the preparation of expert reports and where assumptions are incorporated thereto.