(AUSTRALIA)
Australian Broadcasting Corporation - ABC [Sydney, Australia]
August 26, 2022
By Laura Mayers
[Photo above: Ballarat lawyer Ingrid Irwin attends a rally outside Victorian Parliament earlier this year. Supplied: Twitter]
A Supreme Court ruling in relation to a lawsuit levelled against the Catholic Church has been heralded as a potential new precedent for loved ones of alleged victims of clergy abuse.
Key points:
- Court this week ruled the Catholic Church cannot use “Ellis defence” in a Melbourne lawsuit
- The Catholic Archdiocese has acknowledged the ruling as the lawsuit proceeds
- Lawyers across the state say it will “pave the way” for a legal precedent
The court this week ruled the Catholic Church could not use a legal argument pertaining to the so-called Ellis defence.
The defence was named for choirboy John Ellis and prevented abuse survivors from suing unincorporated organisations such as the church.
The ruling came after a lawsuit levelled at the Church and Cardinal George Pell by a father of one of Pell’s accusers, who has since died of a drug overdose.
The court this week did not make any orders against Pell.
Ballarat lawyer and victim-survivor advocate Ingrid Irwin said it was “huge” development, especially in south-west Victoria where there have been many high-profile cases of clergy abuse.
“It can potentially open the floodgates to so many secondary victims now,” Ms Irwin said.
“The affects of child sex abuse don’t just stop at the institution’s door or with the individual victim … it bleeds into families, into communities, into sibling groups.”
Victoria passed the Legal Identity of Defendants Act in 2018, which through the Wrongs Amendment, abolished the Ellis defence and made an unincorporated organisation liable for child abuse.
The Catholic Church is fighting a lawsuit from the father of a Melbourne choirboy, who suffered “nervous shock” after discovering his son had allegedly been abused.
Church legal representatives this week in the Victorian Supreme court argued they could not be sued by the father under the Legal Identity Act, as it related only to “primary victims of child abuse”.
Ms Irwin said to deny victims’ families and loved ones an opportunity to seek redress was “just ridiculous”.
“There are families that aren’t coping as they try and support these victims … so, how far does the responsibility extend,” she said.
Victoria’s Supreme Court ruled against the argument this week, and the case will continue.
Lawyers across the state say it will “pave the way” for similar cases in the future and gives hope to the families of victims who also suffer trauma.
Melbourne lawyer Judy Courtin said she was representing and had met with “secondary” victims of institutional sexual abuse.
Dr Courtin said more information was coming to light about the intergenerational effects of abuse on family members.
“I would strongly encourage any secondary victim who has suffered harm … to get some legal advice … to at least get an opinion,” Dr Courtin said.
She said the “power base” was shifting and warned it wouldn’t be easy for those considering their legal options.
“These claims are exhausting and … you have a secondary trauma,” she said.
She said they were “fought hard”.
“These claims are incredibly intrusive and the bar is high for proof,” she said.
“[But] some find they reclaim, bit by bit, the power that was stolen from them.”
A spokesperson for the Catholic Archdiocese said the archdiocese acknowledged the judgement handed down and would be working through what that meant in coming days.
The ABC also contacted the Bishop of Ballarat for comment.