Black Saturday settlement distributions could start by end of year

Distributions from the $494 million class action settlement over the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria could begin flowing from the end of 2016, a court has revealed.

Some group members whose claims have been assessed could receive interim payments ahead of the completion of reviews of all group members, the ruling by the Victorian Supreme Court on April 19 said.

The firm which ran the class action and is in charge of managing the settlement distribution scheme, Maurice Blackburn, has blamed the Victorian Bar for delays in their completion of group members assessments. 

The class action was settled in July 2014, with Maurice Blackburn receiving its share of $60 million for its costs in running the case. 

The scheme determines the amount group members receive after their claims for either personal injury and dependency, or for economic loss and property damage, or both, are assessed.

“I am satisfied that Maurice Blackburn has acted reasonably in its handling of the assessment of claims under the settlement distribution scheme,” Justice Jack Forrest said. “But that is not to say that improvements cannot be made.”

According to the ruling, Maurice Blackburn’s national head of class actions advised the court that a distribution to group members with personal injury or dependency claims could begin by the end of this year or early next year, but it depended on whether there was any increase in the rate at which assessments were completed and the backlog reduced.

A spokesman for the firm Cameron Scott said: “The court has acknowledged that everything that can be done has and is being done by our firm to accurately and expeditiously process this important claim of unprecedented size and complexity.”

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Justice Forrest said in his ruling he would continue to hold regular reviews of the assessment process. If in November, it seemed unlikely that personal injury reviews were not likely to be completed by the end of the year, he would discuss with Maurice Blackburn’s head class actions, principal Andrew Watson, the prospect of making interim payments to people whose claims had been assessed.

Discussions would also be held if it became clear that assessments for claimants’ economic loss and property damage were delayed into next year.

There are more than 10,000 claims on behalf of over 5000 individuals. As at March of there were 1854 registered personal injury or dependency claims of which 788 had been completed. About 700 of the total 3523 claims for economic loss and property had also been completed.

About 25 court-appointed barristers are currently working on the personal injury claims. 

Maurice Blackburn had suggested that its lawyers be deployed as assessors to speed up the process, but the judge declined, saying it was important the claims be conducted independently.

The judge said he made orders for Maurice Blackburn to be paid for costs and disbursements in administering the settlement distribution scheme, including a payment of $4.9 million for the period of September 2015 to January this year. 

Justice Forrest appointed Michael Wilson QC, to supervise the administration of the scheme to replace Andrew Keogh SC who was recently appointed to the Victorian judiciary.