Court reduces Norfolk Island plane crash nurse Karen Casey’s compensation after airline appeal

A NURSE who developed PTSD after surviving the night-time ditching of a plane off Norfolk Island will have her $4.8 million payout reduced.

Former nurse Karen Casey speaks outside the NSW Court of Appeal on Thursday. Picture: Simone Ziaziaris

A NURSE who developed PTSD after surviving the night-time ditching of a plane in the sea will have her $4.8 million payout slightly reduced after the airline won an appeal.

Karen Casey successfully sued Pel-Air Aviation in 2015 over the CareFlight crash off Norfolk Island in bad weather in November 2009.

But the NSW Court of Appeal on Thursday allowed Pel-Air’s challenge, finding post-traumatic stress disorder is not “a bodily injury” under the convention governing crash compensation across the world.

“While the expert evidence justified a conclusion that Ms Casey’s brain was malfunctioning as a result of biochemical changes, there was no evidence that her brain had physically changed,” the court said.

Justice Robert Macfarlan, sitting with Justices Julie Ward and Fabian Gleeson, also allowed Ms Casey’s cross-appeal for an increase in the payout relating to fees for the management of her funds.

Her new total payout is yet to be calculated, but Justice Macfarlan told her: “I suspect it will not result in a huge difference.”

Ms Casey and a doctor were transporting a seriously ill patient from Samoa to Melbourne when the pilot was forced to ditch the plane when bad weather disrupted a planned fuel stop at Norfolk Island.