By KATH GANNAWAY
Strap: Black Saturday class action to end with…
SIX years on from the Black Saturday bushfires, the Murrindindi-Marysville class action has been settled for $300 million.
With the action originally due to start in the Supreme Court last week, and the predicted scenario of a year-long trial, Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, acting for hundreds of people whose lives were forever changed by the tragic events of 7 February 2009, announced that an out-of-court settlement had been reached.
The settlement covers over 1100 claims emanating from the fires that affected Murrindindi, Narbethong, Marysville, Buxton and Taggerty.
If approved by the court the settlement, which is agreed to without admission of liability, will see power provider AusNet contribute $260.9m, state parties $29.1m and UAM, the maintenance contractor, $10m.
Dr Katherine Rowe, whose husband Ken died in the fire, was the lead plaintiff, agreeing to the settlement on behalf of the other members of the action.
She said the fire changed her life, which would never be the same, and that of so many others.
“I truly hope that the compensation we have been able to secure today will help all those people still trying to rebuild, and that it lessens the ongoing burden somewhat for people, although it can never fully account for what we’ve gone through and lost,” she said.
She said she believed the justice and accountability that people wanted for what occurred on Black Saturday had been achieved with the size of the settlement, and said she hoped it would force businesses into better practices to avert disasters in the future.
Marysville GP Dr Lachlan Fraser, who lost his home and clinic in the fire, and Kim Rycroft from Narbethong who also lost her home and business, both accepted the settlement as a good outcome to the action.
Ms Rycroft said she felt relief, and described the settlement as “an honourable outcome” which was not about blame, but about acknowledging responsibility so such a disaster was not repeated.
She has rebuilt Saladin Lodge in Narbethong, running it as a B&B, conference facility and event destination with a shop, produce store and cafe.
“It’s just through the luck of the draw that I happened to be young enough (to start again) and that the banks would be bothered talking to me,” she said.
“You will never regain what you lost, but I don’t expect to. At the end of the day, if there is some financial help, how lovely is that?”
Dr Fraser said it was a good outcome.
“For a lot of people, it (the trial) would have dredged up the heartache and prolonged it,” he said.
“They were looking at analysing not only the cause of the fire in terms of the electricity lines, but looking at the emergency services response to mitigate the damage, which would have dragged the whole thing out in court,” he said.
In terms of justice, and the search for answers, Dr Fraser said while the evidence wasn’t tested in court he believed the evidence provided a strong case that the power lines were faulty.
“I guess that’s public record and certainly what was presented at meetings to us,” he said.
“You don’t pay out $300 million if you don’t think the other side has a strong case,” he said.
“I guess we won’t have that admission of liability, but I think in people’s hearts, they know the cause,” he said.
He said while the settlement was a huge step along the journey of recovery, there would never be complete closure.
“It means that we can hope changes and improvements will be made to the power grid to reduce as much as possible further such bushfires.
“And, for people who lost family members and all the others who lost homes, jobs, lifestyles, communities … a lot of people haven’t come back, I think for a lot of these groups, it will be a big step.”
AusNet Services has been a defendant in three separate class actions arising from Black Saturday, including the Kilmore East-Kinglake fire that devastated communities including Kinglake and Steels Creek and Chum Creek, and was settled in July for $495m.
Susan Taylor, AusNet general counsel and company secretary, said the agreement reached on Friday, which was subject to court approval, concluded those actions.
“AusNet Services maintains that there was no negligence on the part of AusNet Services which caused, or contributed to the Murrindindi bushfire, nor any of the other Black Saturday fires,” she said.
Extending the company’s sympathies to those affected, Ms Taylor said they had endeavoured to conduct their defence in a way to avoid adding to the group members’ pain, while necessarily seeking to demonstrate that AusNet Services managed its network competently and efficiently, and in the interest of those who rely on electricity, and the community more generally.”
Subject to court approval, the settlement will be paid in all three Black Saturday class actions by its insurers.
