6 Mar 2017

Crown spends $687k in fees on single state care abuse case

From Morning Report, 7:10 am on 6 March 2017

The Government has racked up almost $700,000 in legal fees in a single state care abuse case before it's even gone to court.

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The victim, known only as X, was sexually abused by another resident while a ward of the state in the early 2000's.

X turned down the settlement proposed by the government and is now awaiting a trial date for the judge to make a decision on damages.

Documents show over 18 months the government spent $336,365 on Crown Law and a further $351,251 on external counsel.

X turned down the original settlement proposed by the government and is now awaiting a date for a hearing, after which a judge will decide on damages.

Cooper Legal partner Amanda Hill, whose firm was acting for the victim, said the amount of compensation X will eventually get will not even come close to what the Crown is paying to fight the case.

The case was just one of 700 that Ms Hill's firm was currently handling. She says several cases are advancing towards a trial - but  the government was fighting hard to prevent that from happening.