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Legal service allegedly gave negligent advice to child sexual abuse victims
A Melbourne community legal service has been hit with a class action over allegations it took a “sausage factory approach” to sexual abuse clients and robbed them of hundreds of thousands in compensation.
Naomi Neilson
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Arnold Thomas & Becker filed a lawsuit against the government-funded Knowmore Legal Service in the Victorian Supreme Court due to the allegedly negligent advice the service gave to child sexual abuse victims who made a claim under the National Redress Scheme.
Head of Arnold Thomas & Becker’s abuse practice, Kim Price, claimed up to 16,000 victims may have been short-changed and robbed of hundreds of thousands of dollars due to this “inadequate advice”.
“Survivors were rarely, if ever, given any advice by Knowmore about the size of their potential claims had they elected to proceed with a civil claim and sued,” Price alleged in a statement.
“It is no wonder that so many people have taken redress as they’ve had no real understanding of the size of the potential compensation.”
The payments for those who make a claim through the National Redress Scheme were capped at $150,000, and survivors released the institutions responsible for their abuse from future legal action.
However, following legislative reforms across Australia, many civil cases have settled for more than $1,000,000.
“As lawyers, Knowmore had a responsibility to ensure these survivors properly understood the compensation options available to them and critically the value of the claim they were giving up.
“Instead, Knowmore applied a sausage factory approach, providing survivors with generic information that fell far short of being adequate legal advice,” Price said.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Knowmore said it has "proudly helped thousands of clients over many years to obtain redress from the National Redress Scheme".
"Knowmore is disappointed that legal action has been commenced and will vigorously defend the claims made against it in court," the spokesperson said.
Price said many of their 180 clients alleged they were pushed into accepting the redress payment and discouraged from other actions.
Lead plaintiff Brian Holmes said he instructed Knowmore to review a redress offer of $43,463, which was rejected by the scheme.
Instead of advising him of the higher compensation he could receive if he sued the state of Victoria and the Salvation Army, Knowmore allegedly directed Holmes towards the redress payment.
“These survivors are distressed about the pathetic compensation they have received from the National Redress Scheme for what are devastating life-long injuries, which is further compounded when they find out what was available through a civil claim,” Price said.
Arnold Thomas & Becker claimed Knowmore breached its duties by not providing its clients with personalised civil law claims advice, “or at least ensured it was obtained from another lawyer”.
“It is shocking to learn that so many survivors who have been brave enough to come forward and seek justice have been robbed as a result of inadequate advice,” Price said.
“By accepting Knowmore’s help, they have taken an incredibly low and unfair redress payment and extinguished their right to receive fair and proper compensation – and this is why we urge victims to come forward and register in this class action.”
Naomi Neilson
Naomi Neilson is a senior journalist with a focus on court reporting for Lawyers Weekly.
You can email Naomi at:
