Justice and Compensation

♦ Is your law firm doing its best?
♦ Vicarious Liability
♦ Criminal Justice (below)
♦ Compensation Awards & Settlements
♦ Ex-Wesley College student wins record settlement over abuse by two teachers
♦ Celso Romanin Civil Suit
♦ Gerald Ridsdale Ballarat Diocese Court Case

Is your law firm doing its best?

Church abuse survivors allege negligence in class action against own lawyers

Eight survivors of institutional childhood sexual abuse have launched a class action against one of Australia's
most prominent sexual abuse law firms, which they allege failed to obtain proper compensation from the institutions responsible for their abuse.

In a group proceeding commenced in Victoria's Supreme Court on Wednesday, former clients of specialist abuse
law firm Waller Legal alleged that it failed to properly claim for their "loss of earnings" compensation when
pursuing their legal claims, leaving some of them more than $1 million short of the compensation they were entitled to.

"It is alleged that Waller Legal settled claims for substantially less than what the claims were worth,
on the basis that a category of compensation (economic loss) was not properly sought," said a summary of the proceeding.

"The claim in this proceeding alleges that Waller Legal were negligent and were in breach of contract."

Court documents state that the lead plaintiff in the proceeding — a survivor of sexual abuse by a Redemptorist Brother, who will use the pseudonym "Jane Jones" to protect her identity — received $202,000 in compensation,
after costs, when represented by Waller Legal in 2020.

The woman's sister and brother, who were abused by the same offender, were also represented by Waller Legal. In a similar case, the sister received $135,000 after costs when represented by Waller Legal in 2017,
But when she sought alternative legal representation in 2022, the woman's new lawyers challenged the previous deed and she was awarded a further $1.35 million.

The woman's brother was left with $185,000 in compensation from a 2017 claim by Waller Legal. In 2023, after switching lawyers, the man was awarded a further $1.74 million in damages.

The lawyer launching the class action, Rightside Legal partner Michael Magazanik, told ABC Investigations his firm is now representing "about a dozen" former clients of Waller Legal whose claims meet the same criteria.

..........
Waller Legal is facing further action from dissatisfied former clients, ABC Investigations has confirmed.
Since 2021, another personal injury law firm, Arnold Thomas and Becker , has issued at least 10 individual Supreme Court writs that allege professional negligence by Waller Legal.

♦ www.abc.net.au

Waller Legal Proceeding

Jane Jones (a pseudonym) v Waller Legal Pty Ltd (S ECI 2023 04435)

This proceeding was brought on behalf of persons who were represented by Waller Legal when pursuing their civil claims
for damages for childhood sexual abuse. Waller Legal is a firm in Melbourne which predominantly
represents clients with historical and institutional sexual abuse claims. The group members settled their claims after 1 July 2015.

It is alleged that Waller Legal failed to properly claim loss of earnings (also known as economic loss) when pursuing their claims.
It is alleged that Waller Legal settled claims for substantially less than what the claims were worth, on the basis that a
category of compensation (economic loss) was not properly sought. The claim in this proceeding alleges that Waller Legal were negligent and were in breach of contract.

The plaintiff in this proceeding is using a pseudonym allocated by the Court to protect their identity.

On 17 February 2025, the Honourable Justice Gorton handed down a ruling that this proceeding will not continue as a group proceeding.
♦ www.supremecourt.vic.gov.au
♦ the judgement - www.supremecourt.vic.gov.au

Vicarious Liability

Thoughts on Justice

They pick a figure with General Damages (pain and suffering) and ecomic loss components, which they consider aligns with previous settlements and offer that amount.
That is, they go on their own case histories, they set their own benchmarks, there is no reference or input from real world cases and awards.

There is not much information on Jesuit settlements (because its secret! Deeds of Release are mandatory),

but it seems they only use General Damages (pain and suffering) as a guide
i.e. they do not consider Economic Loss (which is always the largest part by far of any court award).

To understand quickly how compensation to survivors of sex assault is an insult and
nowhere near addresses the real harm, one only has to compare it to defamation awards.

Apparently, as a society, we consider having something untrue said about you in public
is much more serious than than being raped as a child.
And as a society we compensate people with money for damages because there is not really any other way.

In Sept. 2018, the Wagner family of Toowoomba was awarded $3.2 million because Alan Jones, the radio broadcaster, said things about them.
"The defamatory broadcasts have caused each of the plaintiffs to suffer profound personal hurt
and harm to their reputations." said the Judge.

A single victim of notorious paedophile priest Vince Ryan (Maitland-Newcastle diocese in New South Wales)[1]
received one of the highest known church abuse payouts in Australia, of $3 million,
more than a decade ago (2016 report), but anything about it is secret and it is far far above the norm.

The average compensation amounts are usually small, the Jesuits say theirs is
$270,000 and the Melbourne Response / Towards Healing about $35,000 and the Redress Scheme they say will be $76,000.
Compare this to a politician getting $175,000 because a country newspaper said she had pushed someone when the court decided she hadn't.

USA examples:
Note: Until very recently (2019) the Statute of Limitations in New York State meant that most survivors could not sue for compensation.
Survivors' only choice was a scheme like this.

Nearly three years ago, New York Cardinal Dolan decided to hire Kenneth Feinberg, an arbitration and mediation expert.
An Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program, run by Feinberg and Biros,
began hearing and processing claims of priestly sexual abuse for the Archdiocese of New York in the fall of 2016.

His and Biros’s model for reconciliation and compensation is becoming the standard approach to priestly sexual abuse
just as bishops worldwide are looking here for standard approaches.
As the special master of the 9/11 fund, Feinberg typically employed a formula that estimated the deceased’s lost future lifetime earnings,
accounted for other sources of household income, and gave weight to the number of dependents.

Then he would use his discretion in order to “narrow the gap between high-end and low-end awards”
The new program would offer compensation to survivors and would require them to sign releases forfeiting the right to sue the Church if the law changed later.

In the Archdiocese of New York’s program 394 people applied.
Biros accepted all but forty-eight claims. (a 12% rejection, very high in my opinion)
Individual payments ranged from$25,000 to $500,000.
In total, the program awarded more than sixty-three million dollars to claimants, with little controversy.
(= average $209,302.00 )
Their reason for rejecting a claim is worrying.

A claim is rejected, Biros said, mainly if there are no other claims against the priest and
if there is no evidence for the claim other than the accuser’s recollections.
Which would explain the high 12% rejection rate. Data indicates that false claims are more in the 1-2% area.
Subsequently, in New York State: 1347 claims made across five dioceses, 87 deemed ineligible by the program (6.45% rejection) ,
1129 paid, 68 payments not yet accepted by the claimants, 5 payments rejected by the claimants.
More than $215 million has been distributed to victims. (= average $221,434.00)

This is a very imperfect scheme which works in favour of the catholic church but it is far ahead of anything that has been done in Australia.

How could you calculate harm and equate it to a monetary payment?
Firstly, many people seem to regard this idea as dirty or almost immoral.
You hear reasons like "money won't help them, they will squander it". It's a "crude solution" (Prof. Greg Craven)

So, if its not money then what is it?
Provide psychological help until they feel better?
Say sorry?
Say you support them on their journey to healing?

The Royal Commission.
Table 19: Matrix for assessing monetary payments under redress

Severity of abuse	1–40
Severity of impact of abuse	1–40
Additional elements	1–20 (State care - Other abuse - Closed institution - Relevant disability )

So, if you score 100/100 you get the full $150,000 with the Redress Scheme.
If your abuse was not penetrative and you were not in a closed institution or under state care the most you will receive is $30,000.

The Jesuits matrix is a simple scale of abuse severity and a dollar figure,
up to $1.5 million for anal rape, I am told.

What is missing in ALL matrices and methods is an actual detailed method of calculating harm and loss.
Severity of Abuse is not so hard to put a scale on.
Severity of Impact is more difficult and includes so many elements.

Legally, Damages are generally awarded in three main areas,
Non-Economic Loss (General Damages i.e. pain and suffering), Economic Loss (past and future) and Medical Expenses (past and future).
And sometimes Exemplary Damages (punish the offender by making an example of them).

I think this is why nearly everyone has shied away from it.

I asked the Jesuits to do this and they said no, the lawyers do that (i.e. you enter into a two sided conflict)

A rare example of a court awarding costs was on 5 October 2018,
the Supreme Court of New South Wales entered Judgment in favour of a
Plaintiff who was the victim of child sexual abuse in the amount of $1,548,488.75 plus costs.

The Referee assessed each head of damage as follows:
Damages

Non-Economic Loss (assessed at 50% of a Most Extreme Case)	$306,500
Past Economic Loss	$474,462
Past Superannuation Loss	$52,191
Interest on Past Economic Loss	$189,595
Future Income Loss	$405,420
Future Superannuation Loss	$50,427
Past Medical Expenses	$10,988.75
Future Medical Expenses	$58,905

The Referee’s reasoning offers much needed guidance in assessing personal injury damages for victims of childhood sexual and physical abuse.

(ref: https://koffels.com.au/student-awarded-1-5-million-sexual-abuse/ )

Loss of income.
The Referee above found that the Plaintiff, but for the abuse, would have had the capacity to
earn 20% above the average weekly wage of male employees in New South Wales.
The point of that is that it is possible, with the facts before you, to make a reasonable determination of economic loss.
It can be done.

The harm to a life done by depression, anxiety, loss of trust, problems with relationships,
work related problems. Its a very long list.

In a way, its trying to calculate what the survivor is now and compare it to what he/she might have been if they were not abused.
There are so many unknown factors its hard to do, you have to "assume the normal" in a way.
i.e. The person leads a normal life and achieves what you might expect from what his/her potential was at school.
He/she might be an average wage earner with a family or a teacher, lawyer, doctor, surgeon, QC, or a Vice Chancellor. Its a best guess and it is possible to do.

From that for economic loss you can make an estimate. (using today's dollars)
Average weekly earnings in Australia are about $1300.
Lets say the survivor because of his "injuries" will only earn 75% of that amount, $975.
Over 30 years that is an income loss of $507,000, over 50 years its $845,000.

Take a worse case. Where the survivor is on unemployment or disability support for most of his/her life or
just struggling and earning about that amount. Newstart is $270 a week (approx.).
Over 30 years that is an income loss of $1.6 million, over 50 years its $2.678 million.

That gives a rough scale over time.
"Minor" abuse: 30 years = $1.014 50 years = $1.69 million.
Severe abuse: 30 years = $3.2 million. 50 years $5.356 million.
Then of course if you might have been a lawyer in a big firm the loss would be more like $10 million.

Now you have to add General Damages "pain and suffering".
How do you cost having thoughts of killing yourself for many years?
How do you cost depression, anxiety, panic attacks, bad or no relationships over many years?
Victorian law limits this to a about $580,000 in a court judgement
In the judgement above the Judge awarded 50% of a Most Extreme Case (the maximum is $613,000 in NSW)

The point is it can be done. It can't be perfect but it can be done, and no one has been brave enough. to do it.
Judges do do it as part of their job when they find in favour of a complainant
( a very rare event for a civil suit to go to trial and be found proved)
It is NOT done because of what I call "distancing" or not looking at the harm.
Its a defence mechanism so your biases, prejudices and wrong beliefs are not challenged.
You can stay in your comfortably constructed moral and ethical shell.

Justice needs money - Lots of it!!

If, as a survivor, you think the above is reasonable, there is no way you are going to
get anywhere near it without going through a civil suit.
Now you and your lawyers need lots and lots of money just to run the case.
That could easily be $500,000 and more because of the way Catholic institutions
behave when being sued, and allow a few years of stalling and waiting.
This is done so a complainant is forced to go back to another "scheme" (good word for it) and accept much less.

As we are now "Justice" is a word with no meaning, no definition and very little case law to indicate where it may lie.
Because, in Australia, there has never been one suit against a Catholic institution successful at trial.

notes:
*[1] www.brokenrites.org.au/drupal/node/82
*[2] johnmenadue.com - the catholic church is circling the wagons

Today (17 Dec. 2019) The Age is running a story on Celso Romanin s.j.
♦ Nightmare at Xavier College: New claims of abuse, ritual humiliation
"a statement of claim filed on "Albert's" behalf by law firm Ryan Carlisle Thomas in the Victorian Supreme Court in September"
Also in the story they say an investigation into Romanin was done in 2015, any findings from that, as with all "investigations" , are not publicly disclosed.

"A website dedicated to exposing alleged historic abuse at Xavier College also refers to students having their genitals drawn on by Father Romanin." (sounds like this website... thanks The Age).
The shocking sadistic abusive hell that was Burke Hall in the 1960's-1970's will eventually become public knowledge.

In response to The Age article Xavier College has sent out ♦a letter to its community. pdf is Here...
The most glaring lie from Bill Doherty and Chris Middleton s.j. is: "We are committed to owning our past..
Perhaps that's true, we own all the information about sex abuse and you can't have it.
The ONLY thing Xavier College and the Old Xaverians Association do to help sex abuse survivors is to financially assist ONE survivor.

If you have a compensation agreement which includes monies for a psychologist, when the money runs out, thats it, pay for your own therapy.
Therapy is often a lifetime necessity.

 

Ex-Wesley College student wins record settlement over abuse by two teachers

May 20, 2021
♦ www.theage.com.au

A former Wesley College student has received a $3 million record settlement for institutional child abuse in Victoria, after he was sexually assaulted by two former teachers in the 1970s.
(added mwp: One of them was John McMillan who later taught at Preshil school and continued his abuse of kids there.)

The victim was preyed upon as a 12-year-old student at the prestigious college’s Glen Waverley campus by former teacher John McMillan, who abused the boy on several leadership camps between 1972 and 1974.

He transferred to the Prahran campus in 1976 and sought the support of school counsellor and long-time teacher Stewart Heywood, who then repeatedly abused the boy for three more years.

In total, the student was abused for five of the six years he spent at the exclusive private school.

Lawyers acting for Wesley College only agreed to the landmark settlement on the third day of a Supreme Court trial in March, despite being aware both Mr McMillan and Mr Heywood had ended their careers in disgrace.

The Age can also reveal the pair were responsible for the sexual abuse of at least two other Wesley College students, although there is no suggestion their attacks were co-ordinated.

The victim, who is now in his 60s and asked not to be identified, said he had lived with shame, guilt and regret for decades.

“I wanted to hold the school to account, to force the school to confront its past and to force them to deal with me fairly. I want the school to say publicly that Heywood and McMillan were criminals who caused devastating harm,” he said.

The man described Wesley College as a “sick and dangerous place” during the 1970s, and said he knew of other students who had been attacked.

Lawyer Michael Magazanik from Rightside Legal accused the independent school’s administration of failing to protect its students and allowing abuse to flourish.

He said the record settlement reflected the gravity of the offending and its lifelong impact on the victim.

“This is a case where one Wesley child abuser knowingly targeted the victim of another Wesley child abuser. And I know my client was not the only student abused by both men,” Mr Magazanik said.

Mr McMillan was sentenced to 18 months in jail in 2016 after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting an 11-year-old student from Wesley College while on a school camping trip in 1975. Mr McMillan, who was deregistered from teaching in 1996, also pleaded guilty to the repeated abuse of another boy at progressive Kew school Preshil in 1991.

Now 77 and in poor health, he is believed to live in Queensland.

After being employed in a range of roles at Wesley between 1960 and 1988, Mr Heywood took his own life in 2004 while the subject of a police investigation into the sexual abuse of two boys.

The Wesley College community magazine paid tribute at the time to the former counsellor, who also held roles with the Anglican Church, the Australian College of Education and the Crime Prevention Council.

“In the death of Stewart Heywood, the Wesley school community has lost an outstanding servant, but many of its members will feel they have lost an invaluable friend,” the tribute stated.

Wesley College president Marianne Stillwell confirmed on Tuesday that the case had been settled for a “significant sum” and claimed both parties were bound by a confidentiality agreement.

Ms Stillwell conceded the college had failed the student and expressed her deepest apologies on behalf of the Uniting Church school, which has former prime ministers Sir Robert Menzies and Harold Holt among its notable alumni.

“On advice from our lawyers and insurers, we sought to ensure that offers of compensation and support were not only fair, but that the process was respectful and timely,” she said in a statement. “As such, a financial offer which sat at the upper end of legal precedents for such cases was presented and eventually agreed.”

She said Wesley College considers all forms of child sexual abuse to be intolerable and unacceptable under any circumstances.


Survivor wins record $2m compensation
The Melbourne Archdiocese has been forced to pay a record $2 million in compensation after originally only offering $27,500 to a survivor of notorious priest Kevin O’Donnell.
David Kenter won the payout – the largest of its kind in Victorian history – more than 45 years after he was first sexually abused as a nine-year-old altar boy.
O’Donnell inflicted what court documents described as “ongoing and regular horrific sexual abuse” on Mr Kenter from 1975 to 1977.

Complaints were made to the Church about O’Donnell – who was eventually convicted in 1995 for indecent assault against 12 children – more than 15 years before Mr Kenter’s abuse began. But, in court documents from the settlement, the Church denied the abuse was caused by negligence of the Melbourne archbishop, who was responsible for O’Donnell’s appointment.
Mr Kenter, now 56, said he was relieved the court process was over.

The navy veteran said he signed up to the Melbourne Response Scheme in 2003 because he thought it was his only option. He called the scheme, which meant survivors agreed to no further legal action in exchange for compensation, an “insult to survivors”.
Laws introduced in 2018 allowed survivors to challenge this compensation.

A spokeswoman for the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne said while they cannot comment on individual cases, they were “appalled by the nature of such crimes” and have “publicly apologised to all survivors”.
♦ www.heraldsun.com.au



Ridsdale Abuse victim receives multi-million-dollar payout from Catholic Church
September 27, 2019
The Catholic Church is expected to pay out as much as $3 million in a landmark legal settlement with a man who was raped in the confessional when he was a nine-year-old boy by notorious paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale.

♦ Story here...

♦ Spike in claims against Church prompts calls for Andrews to intervene - Tha Age article

♦ ‘Deeply sorry’: Sydney Grammar School prints newspaper apology to boy for teacher’s sexual abuse

The Age - Paedophile ring Investigation
Revealed: How paedophile priests in Victoria worked together to share victims
A Catholic priest left a 14-year-old boy in a seminary common room with several other boys before another priest came and "selected" him for abuse, says an explosive new statement of claim.
♦ The Age - Revealed: How paedophile priests in Victoria worked together to share victims

Second article.
Corpus Christi was where sexually repressed men could “act out” with each other, living double lives, then transfer their attentions to the most innocent in their flocks.
♦ How a Melbourne seminary became the breeding ground for paedophile rings

Third article:
What is interesting about this the third article in the Age investigation is the Jesuit connection. when the Jesuits first came to Melbourne they set up St Pats behind the cathedral and a seminary. When Corpus Christi seminary was set up in Werribee (where the Zoo is now )the Jesuits ran it and continued in a teaching and administrative role when it moved to Glen Waverley.
Additionally Dr Eric Seal was an old Xaverian, head of psychiatry at St Vincent’s and intimately involved with victims and perpetrators and one might suggest keeping the whole matter under wraps .
So the Jesuits hands are all over this but strangely not mentioned.
(from Xavier Abuse Survivors Network)
♦ 'Seduction' of children did little harm, said Catholic gatekeeper Ronald Conway.

Fourth Article.
"..the Ballarat diocese and Christian Brothers were doing more:
they were also exporting known paedophiles to the US under the guise of “treatment”.
And there, according to law suits only recently lodged in Connecticut, dozens more victims are seeking their own redress over the predations of Victoria’s Catholic clerics..."
♦ Ground zero: How the Ballarat diocese exported paedophiles to the world

Fifth article:
♦ How a Melbourne seminary became the breeding ground for paedophile rings
Corpus Christi was where sexually repressed men could “act out” with each other, living double lives, then transfer their attentions to the most innocent in their flocks.
November 26, 2021
Lawyers say his case has set a precedent


Robert Friscic

Anthony Bongiorno died in 2002.

With limited means and an intellectual disability, he took on the Catholic Church and won.
He lodged a civil claim in Victoria's Supreme Court, alleging abuse by Father Anthony Bongiorno.

After two and a half years of litigation, the Archdiocese of Melbourne has offered an out-of-court settlement of $3 million.
It has admitted that former Archbishop Frank Little breached his duty of care.

Mr Friscic's lawyers say the settlement, combined with previous payments, makes it the highest award for an historical abuse matter.
♦ www.abc.net.au