A child abuse survivor has successfully sued his former lawyers, Waller Legal Pty Ltd, after the Supreme Court found the firm was negligent in failing to give him proper legal advice.
The survivor was abused by two religious brothers with the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart when he was a student at Monivae College in Hamilton in 1977 and 1978.
He was represented by the law firm Waller Legal from 2015 to 2017. His lawyers did not issue a legal claim, but advised him to undertake an alternative dispute resolution process. Waller Legal did not seek compensation for decades of lost income, and incorrectly advised him that claiming such compensation would likely cause Centrelink to claw back his damages.
He settled his case for $140,000, reduced to $112,000 after legal costs to Waller Legal.
Law firm Rightside Legal then took on his case in 2019, overturned most aspects of the previous deed of settlement and won a further $400,000 (plus legal costs) for psychiatric damage from the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart.
The survivor then sued his former lawyers for the lost earnings they had not claimed from the Missionaries.
The Supreme Court found Waller Legal had been negligent in multiple ways when representing the survivor. Justice Jack Forrest ordered the firm to pay the man $263,000.
Judge Forrest found that aspects of Dr Vivian Waller’s understanding of the survivor’s legal position were “misconceived and negligently held” [477 (c)]; “incorrect” [534]; and made “no sense” [564].
Michael Magazanik, partner at Rightside Legal, says this was a tragic case where the man was sold short by his former lawyers. The abuse had led to lifelong psychiatric damage, and the man left school at 14, followed by decades of low-paid jobs, often for cash, while he battled mental illness.
“His initial compensation was ridiculously inadequate, and further reduced by his lawyers’ fees,” Mr Magazanik said.
“And inexplicably his lawyers did not even claim for his lost earnings. Every injured person – maybe especially people who have suffered sexual abuse as children – deserve competent advice and legal representation.
“Waller Legal’s failure to do that means he has had to fight for another six years to get what he should have got years ago.”
Contact:
Michael Magazanik, partner, Rightside Legal 0403 367 608
Andrew Taylor 0411 156 797
RIGHTSIDE LEGAL
In recent years Rightside Legal has set legal precedents: the first trial win against the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne; and the first cases in Western Australia and Victoria to overturn previous settlements in sexual abuse cases. After decades of being denied justice, survivors are now being properly supported late in their lives.
Rightside Legal has also set records, with multi-million-dollar settlements for former students in private and government schools and orphanages, and the largest verdict for an abuse survivor in Australia.
Not all cases set records, not every case is a first, but every case matters.
