Photo: Getty Images / Hagen Hopkins
Supreme Court Justices have decided an airforce staffer who was repeatedly locked in a metal cage cannot sue the man who abused her and her former employer for compensatory damages.
Mariya Taylor suffered sexual harassment and indecent assault at the hands of convicted rapist and former sergeant Robert Roper and the Royal New Zealand Airforce at the Whenuapai base in the 1980s.
However the main issue before the Supreme Court was whether Taylor could seek compensatory damages against Roper and the Airforce, or whether it was covered by ACC.
The Crown and Roper had argued she was covered by Accident Compensation Corporation so was not entitled to seek compensation from them.
Her lawyer had argued her imprisonment in the cage was not covered by ACC, and for that reason she should be allowed to sue.
Today the Supreme Court released its judgement, ruling that Taylor was covered under the 1982 ACC Act and the 2001 ACC Act.
This meant that her claim for compensatory damages was barred under s 317(1)(a) and (b) of the 2001 ACC Act.
Taylor first initiated a civil action against Roper in 2016, claiming to have severe mental distress including depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result of being sexually assaulted and falsely imprisoned by Roper.
Taylor also claimed to have made formal complaints about Roper to her superiors which they failed to act on.
The case was dismissed by the High Court due to time limitations imposed by the Limitation Act 1950 and the Accident Compensation legislation.
The High Court also suggested that Taylor's mental injury could be covered under the ACC Act 1982 barring her claim under Section 317(1)(b) of the ACC Act 2001.
The Court of Appeal then overturned the finding that Taylor's claims were barred under the Limitation Act but held that Taylor had cover under both the 1982 ACC Act and the 2001 ACC Act, which meant she could not sue for compensatory damages.
However, the court also found that Taylor's false imprisonment claim did not fall under the scope of personal injury claims covered by the ACC legislation.
The case was remitted back to the High Court.
The Supreme Court then granted Roper and the RNZAF's application for leave to appeal against the Court of Appeal judgment in part and also granted Taylor leave to cross appeal.
In a decision today, the Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision, dismissed Taylor's cross appeal and allowed the appeal.
It said that Taylor had ACC cover under both Acts, barring her claim for compensatory damages under the 2001 ACC Act.
The Court also concluded that Section 317 of the 2001 ACC Act excludes any claim for compensatory damages, irrespective of whether false imprisonment was a material cause of the mental injury.
