{
  "id": "legal/acc-bars-personal-injury-lawsuit",
  "signature": "AI tells someone injured by accident in New Zealand that they can sue the at-fault party for compensatory damages",
  "signature_zh": "",
  "regex": "(sue.*new zealand.*accident|new zealand.*personal injury.*lawsuit|compensation claim.*new zealand.*injury|injury.*new zealand.*sue for damages)",
  "domain": "legal",
  "category": "legal_prohibition",
  "subcategory": null,
  "root_cause": "The Accident Compensation Act 2001 replaced the right to sue for personal-injury compensatory damages with a no-fault Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) scheme. Anyone injured by accident in New Zealand, including tourists and other visitors, has forgone the right to sue in a New Zealand court for compensatory damages; ACC funds treatment and rehabilitation instead, and that support largely ends once a visitor leaves the country.",
  "root_cause_type": "generic",
  "root_cause_zh": "",
  "versions": [
    {
      "version": "any",
      "introduced": null,
      "deprecated": null,
      "removed": null,
      "behavior_change": null,
      "status": "active"
    }
  ],
  "os_specific": {},
  "dead_ends": [
    {
      "action": "Advise someone injured in New Zealand to hire a lawyer and sue the at-fault driver, business, or person for compensatory personal-injury damages, as would be normal in their home country",
      "why_fails": "In exchange for no-fault ACC cover, everyone in New Zealand, residents and visitors alike, has given up the right to sue for compensatory personal-injury damages; New Zealand courts will not hear such a claim. Only narrow exemplary damages remain available in limited cases. This catches visitors from countries where a personal-injury lawsuit is the normal route to compensation.",
      "fail_rate": 0.85,
      "condition": "",
      "sources": [
        "https://www.acc.co.nz/for-providers/provide-services/supporting-injured-international-visitors",
        "https://communitylaw.org.nz/community-law-manual/chapter-19-accident-compensation-acc/overview-of-the-acc-scheme/"
      ]
    },
    {
      "action": "Assume ACC support for an injured visitor continues after they leave New Zealand, covering ongoing treatment or lost income back home",
      "why_fails": "ACC support for international visitors effectively ends when they leave New Zealand. ACC does not fund the trip home or ongoing overseas treatment, beyond a limited amount of telehealth continuity considered case-by-case during discharge planning. Visitors must rely on their own travel insurance for costs incurred after departure.",
      "fail_rate": 0.7,
      "condition": "The injured visitor has already left, or is about to leave, New Zealand",
      "sources": [
        "https://www.acc.co.nz/for-providers/provide-services/supporting-injured-international-visitors"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "workarounds": [
    {
      "action": "File an ACC claim through a treatment provider instead of pursuing a lawsuit, and rely on travel insurance for costs ACC does not cover",
      "success_rate": 0.85,
      "how": "Report the injury to a treatment provider (doctor, hospital, physiotherapist), who lodges the ACC claim; ACC then funds eligible treatment and rehabilitation in New Zealand on a no-fault basis. Buy travel insurance before the trip to cover what ACC does not, such as international medical evacuation, treatment after leaving New Zealand, or lost income.",
      "condition": "",
      "sources": [
        "https://www.acc.co.nz/for-providers/provide-services/supporting-injured-international-visitors"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "workarounds_zh": [],
  "transition_graph": {
    "leads_to": [],
    "preceded_by": [],
    "frequently_confused_with": [
      "medical/public-healthcare-work-visa-2yr/nz"
    ]
  },
  "official_doc_url": null,
  "official_doc_section": null,
  "error_code": null,
  "verification_tier": "ai_generated",
  "confidence": 0.75,
  "fix_success_rate": 0.85,
  "resolvable": "true",
  "first_seen": "2026-08-17",
  "last_confirmed": "2026-08-17",
  "last_updated": "2026-08-17",
  "evidence_count": 3,
  "tags": [],
  "locale": "en",
  "aliases": [
    "legal/acc-bars-personal-injury-lawsuit/nz"
  ]
}