A Sunbury man who lied to protect his mate has won a battle to have his TAC compensation restored.
Dejan Zivaljevic took the Transport Accident Commission (TAC) to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) to reinstate compensation payments he had been receiving for an arm injury sustained by a reversing van.
Mr Zivaljevic lodged a claim with the TAC for his injuries in July 2011, about two months after the accident. The claim was accepted and payments began about a month later.
But they were revoked by the TAC in May 2012 because “additional information . . . advises the injuries are not directly caused by the transport accident”.
VCAT documents say the additional information was that Mr Zivaljevic initially told two doctors and the Northern Hospital emergency department that he was injured playing indoor soccer.
But a few weeks later he told a Northern Hospital surgeon that he was hit in the driveway of his home by a van belonging to him but being driven by a friend, Abdallah Ahmad.
Section 35 of the Transport Accident Act 1986 entitles a person injured as a result of a transport accident to receive compensation.
The two different stories led the TAC to reinvestigate Mr Zivaljevic’s claim.
An investigator interviewed members of a Serbian soccer club who played a match at Epping Leisure Centre at the same time and on the same day of the accident, leading the investigator to believe this was where the injury was sustained.
But Mr Zivaljevic denied this and said he gave a different account of events to cover for Mr Ahmad, who he thought may not have had a driving licence.
VCAT deputy president Heather Lambrick concluded she was satisfied Mr Zivaljevic was involved in a transport accident which caused serious injury to his elbow.”
She also ordered the TAC to compensate Mr Zivaljevic from the date his payments were stopped.
A spokesman said the TAC accepted the decision.
