Court awards damages in sexual abuse case.
The Court has awarded a plaintiff damages of $717,000 in a claim for personal injury damages in respect of sexual abuse inflicted upon him as an 8 year old child by a teacher at a Victorian state primary school. The claim is one of many brought against the teacher and the State of Victoria by plaintiffs claiming they were also abused by the teacher. In the interests of managing the proceedings efficiently, the Court has so far as possible managed the proceedings in a block and had listed them to proceed for trial consecutively before a Judge alone to avoid a doubling up of evidence and the risk of inconsistent findings of fact. Judicial Mediation was also employed and proved effective in resolving some of the claims, while others have been resolved at the door of court. Thus far this is the only claim to proceed to judgment and the bulk of the remaining claims have been settled.