(AUSTRALIA)
Australian Broadcasting Corporation - ABC [Sydney, Australia]
November 8, 2024
By Lucas Forbes
In short:
A record $3.3 million payout to a sexual abuse survivor has been successfully appealed by the Catholic Diocese of Wagga Wagga, reducing the payment by more than $1 million.
The victim was abused by paedophile priest Vincent Kiss in the 1960s and 70s.
The church argued that the damages were “manifestly excessive” because the victim had had a “relatively successful life”.abc.net.au/news/catholic-diocese-wagga-appeal-compensation-payout/104575910Link copiedShare article
A landmark sexual abuse compensation payout has been slashed by more than $1 million after a Catholic diocese successfully appealed, in part because the victim had lived “a relatively successful life”.
The Victorian Supreme Court awarded victim TJ, whose real name cannot be used for legal reasons, $3.3 million in compensation last November.
The compensation was for the abuse he suffered in the 1960s and 70s at the hands of paedophile priest Vincent Kiss at the Catholic Diocese of Wagga Wagga, in southern New South Wales.
It was the largest payout of its kind to an abuse survivor at the time, and the first time a civil case against the Catholic Church had been tested before a jury.
However, the Catholic Diocese of Wagga Wagga has successfully appealed, resulting in the payment being reduced to just over $2 million.
The diocese’s barrister Roisin Annelsley KC argued that the damages awarded on account of TJ’s pain were “manifestly excessive”.
“The experience and effect of the abuse on this plaintiff has not been destructive in nature,” she said during the appeal.
A panel of judges reduced the award for pain and suffering to $550,000, halved the interest payment and did not award the exemplary damages, which is a type of damages used to deter others from committing similar offences.
‘A relatively successful life’
In its written judgement, the panel explained that while the abuse TJ suffered was serious, he had in general had a good quality of life, which is why his award for pain and suffering was halved.
“With the assistance of psychological treatment, the plaintiff has subsequently managed to experience a relatively successful life, albeit one that has not been without challenges,” the panel wrote.
Justice David Beach said not enough of a case had been made to keep the exemplary damages.
“I thought the trial was all about pain and suffering and economic loss,” he said.
“Speaking for myself, all the work on this appeal was on economic loss.”
TJ was originally awarded $1.1 million for his pain and suffering, $965,000 for economic costs, $1.3 million for exemplary damages and $462,000 in interest payments.
TJ met Kiss when he was 14, at Wagga Wagga’s Saint Michael’s Cathedral where Kiss was a priest.
TJ previously told the ABC he had buried the abuse for decades until, as an adult with a career in teaching, he saw a story about a paedophile teacher at a nearby school, which caused his trauma to resurface.