Child abuse survivors now allowed to sue churches

THOUSANDS of child abuse survivors will for the first time be able to sue institutions such as churches under a sweeping overhaul of civil liability laws to be announced by Attorney-General Mark Speakman.

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THOUSANDS of child abuse survivors will finally be given the power to sue churches and other institutions for damages under a sweeping overhaul of civil litigation laws.

Institutions will also no longer be able to distance themselves from the actions of so-called “non-employees” such as volunteers and paedophile priests under the new laws.

At the same time, survivors will be given the upper hand in cases against churches with the government to ­reverse the onus of proof and require organisations to prove they took reasonable precautions to prevent the abuse.

More than a decade since the Catholic Church won a legal battle against former altar boy John Ellis, the state government has drafted a new bill to close a legal loophole that has effectively given churches legal immunity.

Attorney-General Mark Speakman says the State Government will close a legal loophole allowing abuse survivors to sue churches.

Mr Ellis, who was sexually abused by Father Aidan Duggan of the Bass Hill Parish when just 13, sued the priest, along with Cardinal George Pell and the Trustees of the Roman Catholic Church for the Archdiocese of Sydney. While the Supreme Court trial judge found the Trustees could be sued, the Court of Appeal ruled the Trustees did not control nor was ­responsible for Duggan’s conduct.

The fact a church could not be sued as it did not legally exist because its assets were held in a trust became know as the “Ellis defence”.

Attorney-General Mark Speakman said its abolition would enable courts to have the power to appoint trusts associated with institutions to be sued in the absence of a defendant with assets.

Describing the new laws as the “culmination of a life’s work”, Mr Ellis said the abolition of the defence will ensure survivors would not face the same setbacks as he had. “I am very chuffed that this defence won’t be able to be used — we have been working towards this for a very long time,” he said. “We don’t want survivors to have to fight churches and other institutions in court but, if they have to, if the institutions are not playing ball or continuing to have an attitude ­problem, at least they can now have their claims tested.”

Late paedophile priest Father Aidan pictured in 1987 abused John Ellis at the Bass Hill Parish.

Child abuse survivor John Ellis welcomes the new laws, saying it is a “culmination of a life’s work”.

Drafted in response to the Royal Commission’s Redress and Civil ­Litigation Report, the proposed civil litigation laws would enable “thousands of survivors” to seek compensation, Mr Speakman said.

In Victoria, which has also introduced a similar bill, legal experts claimed the existence of the Ellis ­defence had saved the Catholic Church “millions”.

The Archdiocese of Sydney states on its website that the church can and had been successfully sued in the past.

“After Mr Ellis lost his court case, he received several hundred thousand dollars in financial assistance from the Archdiocese,” it said.

“Ellis stands for nothing more than the commonsense proposition that you cannot be liable for wrongdoing of others unless you are directly or ­indirectly responsible for supervising their conduct.” The Church was “strongly committed” to helping victims of abuse and, where responsibility was clear, sought to resolve claims out of court, it said.

Father Duggan died in 2004.

* Follow Linda Silmalis on Twitter @LindaSilmalis or email [e-mail]