Out of court settlement has been signed as solution to long-running dispute over a $1 million ACC bill issued to a Wairoa meatworks after a gang-related shooting. However, it might have set a costly precedent for taxpayers.

It has been learnt that ACC has nodded its head in yes to pay the initial cost of helping Joel Storey, who is now 25 and in a wheelchair after being paralyzed from the waist down as a result of being shot in the Affco meatworks car park in April 2003.

As per reports, the shooting was a result of mistaken identity, possibly in retaliation for an earlier shooting of two Mongrel Mob members, one of whom later died.

Storey was shot three times by a gunman who walked up to his vehicle. Storey was not a gang member; however, the other man in his car was a 23-year-old Black Power associate, who was shot in the shoulder and did not get any serious injuries.

The charges of shooting have been applied on none.

It should be noted that Affco was a member of ACC's Accredited Employers Programme, which means that it got enormous levy discounts for taking responsibility for its own workplace health and safety and the management of workplace injuries. This also included paying all statutory entitlements, like weekly compensation for lost earnings.

Affco was legally responsible for up to $1 million of Storey's continuing costs, under the programme.

Affco denied paying, reasoning the shooting had not happened in a workplace and that Storey had been on a break at the time. Later however, the company specified he had been drinking whisky and smoking drugs in the car.

But the company kept on receiving invoices from ACC.

A source close to the matter said, "Mediation broke down between the parties, which last year went to the High Court. Associate Judge David Gendall declined claims from both parties."

The amount paid by each company is not known; however it is being predicted to be close to $500,000 each. ACC would meet ongoing costs for Storey.