By JESSE GRAHAM
$300 million settlement averts lengthy Black Saturday court battle…
A LENGTHY court battle over the final Black Saturday bushfires class action lawsuit has been avoided, after a $300 million settlement was approved by the Supreme Court last week.
Justice Karin Leigh Emerton handed down her judgement on the proposed settlement for the Murrindindi-Marysville bushfire class action lawsuit on Wednesday 27 May.
In a 33-page judgement, Justice Emerton outlined her reasoning for supporting the settlement for the class action, which was led by Marysville’s Dr Katherine Rowe against AusNet Services (formerly SP AusNet), maintenance contractor UAM and State parties (CFA, Victoria Police and DELWP).
The case alleged that AusNet was to blame for the fire starting west of Milhelmina Falls Road, from a power conductor snapping and draping over a wire fence, electrifying other wires and igniting vegetation.
It was alleged that UAM failed to report obvious defects and that the State parties failed to get information to people “at the right time”- the settlement was reached without admission of liability by any party.
One of the major considerations in accepting the settlement, according to Justice Emerton, was weighing up the benefits of saving the court process with the possibility of a better outcome for survivors if the case went on.
She noted that, with 131 witnesses set to take the stand and describe their experiences of the bushfires, the settlement saved all those impacted by the fires from having to describe their trauma in detail.
“In my view, the advantage of an early finalisation of the proceeding is a very important one,” the judgement read.
“Given the traumatic nature of the events giving rise to the class action, there must be a considerable benefit to avoiding long delays and in achieving finality in litigation.”
Justice Emerton wrote that there was also no guarantee of a positive outcome for the class action members, with the possibility of losing the case or having an outcome appealed, significantly raising legal costs.
AusNet will contribute $260.9 million, while the State parties will contribute $29.1 million, and UAM will contribute $10 million to the settlement’s total of $300 million.
Following the Murrindindi settlement, the total amount of compensation for Black Saturday survivors, including from the Kilmore East-Kinglake fire, is $794 million, minus Maurice Blackburn’s fees.
The Kilmore fire hit the areas around Steels Creek, Yarra Glen, Toolangi and Chum Creek.
Dr Rowe said she hoped the compensation would help survivors who were still struggling in the aftermath of the fires and the trauma they wrought.
“I truly hope that the compensation we have been able to secure today will help all those people still trying to rebuild, and that it lessens the ongoing burden somewhat for people, although it can never fully account for what we’ve gone through and lost,” she said.
She said she hoped the settlement would force businesses “into better practices, so these disasters were averted in future.”
Maurice Blackburn’s Class Actions Principal Brooke Dellvedova said the team was driven by wanting to deliver a “meaningful” result and a “sense of justice” for survivors.
“We know that a victory even of this magnitude can never erase the pain that people suffered on and after that devastating day, but we are proud to have helped our clients achieve this very significant compensation,” she said.
The Murrindindi-Marysville fire destroyed the towns of Marysville and Narbethong and killed 40 people, and the lawsuit was the last for the survivors of the Black Saturday bushfires.
The survivors’ claims for compensation are expected be assessed in a year.
