Recent High Damages Awards in Victoria

Victorian Courts have been some of the most generous to survivors of institutional child sexual abuse. In recent years there have been some high compensation awards in Victoria for institutional child sexual abuse claims, such as O'Connor v Comensoli and Morris v Hand; however, a new high may have been reached recently when the Victorian Supreme Court ordered the Western Bulldogs pay a survivor of child sexual abuse $5.9 million.

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This award of damages is extremely high and maybe the highest amount awarded to date. The award included $3.25 million for non-economic loss (often referred to as 'pain and suffering'), $2.6 million for loss of earnings and $87,000 for medical costs.

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In another recent matter in Victoria a man was awarded $3.3 million for abuse by a Catholic priest. During the trial the Church had only suggested to the Court that the man be awarded $250,000.

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These decisions about the amount of compensation were made by a Jury and not a Judge.

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South Australia does not have Jury trials in civil matters. Consequently, while these high awards of compensation send a message to the Judiciary and the community about the attitude the community has to the damage caused by Institutional child sexual abuse, we do not expect that awards in South Australia will be at these levels.

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This decision comes at a time of significant cases being decided in the institutional abuse space. We recently published a blog titled 'High Court prevents institutional defendants stopping claims going to trial for some sexual abuse survivors' which addressed the High Court decision in GLJ v the Trustees of the Roman Catholic Church for the Diocese of Lismore which provided the High Court's attitude that a permanent stay being granted in institutional abuse cases was a high bar to satisfy.

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If you have suffered institutional child sexual abuse and wish to discuss your compensation options, we have experienced solicitors that will talk to you about your claim options. You can request a confidential, free claim check by calling us on 08 7093 2998 or by submitting an online enquiry via our website at mkflawyers.com.au/abuselawfreeclaimcheck