A new specialised list will begin from 10 February 2020 to handle civil claims related to institutional abuse.
Media Release
New Institutional Liability List
Tuesday, 4 February 2020
The Supreme Court of Victoria will begin a specialised Institutional Liability List from 10 February 2020 to handle civil claims related to institutional abuse.
The new list will include claims for damages which have arisen from or following the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and/or the State Inquiry into the Handling of Child Abuse by Religious and Other Organisations.
Details of the claims that will be managed in the list are set out in the Notice to the Profession.
Since the removal of the statute of limitations on historical child abuse claims and the passing of legislation allowing settlements and judgments which occurred before this change to be overturned, the Court has seen a significant increase in the number of personal injury damages claims relating to historical institutional child abuse.
The number of such claims doubled in the 2018/19 financial year, and there are currently 262 pending cases which will be transferred to the new list.
The creation of the specialist list will allow for more efficient and experienced management of cases.
The Institutional Liability List will be the thirteenth specialist list within the Common Law Division and is expected to be the third largest.
The Judges in Charge of the new list will be the Honourable Justices Rita Incerti (formerly Justice Zammit) and Andrew Keogh and the list will be managed by Judicial Registrar Julie Clayton.
Supreme Court Media Contact:
Anthea Cannon
Media Advisor
zrqvn@fhcpbheg.ivp.tbi.nhua.vog.civ.truocpus@aidem
0427 791 891