Victorian Court Reevaluates Multi-Million Dollar Compensation in Child Spectator Abuse Case at Footscray Football Club

Melbourne, Australia — In a landmark ruling, the Victorian Court of Appeal has significantly reduced the compensation awarded to a man who claimed he was abused as a child while attending Footscray Football Club events. The decision revisits key legal principles, such as a sporting club’s duty of care to child spectators and the need for jury awards to adhere strictly to relevant considerations.

The case centered around Adam Kneale, who alleged that he was abused by Graeme Hobbs, an unpaid volunteer at the club during the 1980s. Kneale, who was not a club member but a spectator, brought claims of negligence against the club.

In an initial trial, the jury awarded Kneale a total of $5,943,151 in damages, a sum that included compensation for pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, economic loss, and medical expenses. However, the football club appealed the decision, leading to a reassessment by the Court of Appeal.

The appellate court found that the original damages awarded by the jury for pain and suffering, set at $3,250,000, were disproportionately high. After considering the evidence and comparisons to similar historical abuse cases, the court reduced this amount to $850,000.

Further scrutiny was given to Kneale’s claimed economic losses, originally awarded at $2,605,578. The Court of Appeal concluded that the jury’s figure was speculative and reduced it to $1,700,000, taking into consideration potential contingencies that could have affected Kneale’s earnings.

The decision underlined the application of indexation to past economic losses, a standard practice meant to reflect what the plaintiff’s financial situation would have been if the abuse had not occurred. Nonetheless, the appeal court adjusted the discount rate applied to future economic losses from the statutory 5% to 3%, reflecting the unique and persistent impacts of child abuse.

The Court of Appeal dismissed other grounds of the club’s appeal, including alleged errors in the judge’s instructions to the jury concerning the scope of the club’s duty of care. The judges maintained that the club had a duty to take reasonable care to avoid foreseeable risks of injury to spectators, regardless of their direct association with the club.

The ruling has broader implications for sporting clubs and organizations hosting events where children are present. It underscores the necessity of stringent child safeguarding policies and legal responsibilities extending beyond the immediate activities of the club.

This case also reflects the judicial system’s ongoing adjustment to the sensitivities of historical abuse claims, particularly involving children. Courts are tasked with balancing fair compensation for profound personal impacts against the need for awards to be grounded in objective and relevant factors.

This decision arrives amid evolving legal standards regarding the compensation of victims in historical abuse cases, with recent judgments emphasizing proportionality and the avoidance of punitive considerations.

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