WestConnex tunnelling class action: 68,000 homeowners may be able to join damage claim

A lawyer preparing to represent homeowners affected by work on the nation’s biggest ever infrastructure project says he’s never seen such secrecy.

The indifference and secrecy of transport authorities and tunnelling companies over damage to properties near the WestConnex route have created the conditions for a potentially massive homeowner class action, a lawyer claims.

“Something is being hidden,” Dentons partner Ben Allen, who will front an online meeting on Tuesday night to outline plans for collective litigation, told The Daily Telegraph.

Owners of up to 68,000 homes within 100 metres of the route of ‘Australia’s largest infrastructure project’ may be eligible to join the action if it goes ahead.

“This isn’t just affecting one suburb or one community,” Mr Allen said.

An underground section of WestConnex at St Peters in September 2022. Picture: Richard Dobson

Damage is being caused by vibration and change in soil moisture that is leading to sinking, he added.

Some owners had already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on repairs to cracks and leaks.

Others were considering knocking down their homes and starting again, such was the extent of the damage.

Mr Allen said the firm had never had such difficulty getting hold of documents, data and information.

“We have met a wall of indifference at every turn,” he said.

Dentons partner and lawyer Ben Allen

Mr Allen said pursuing compensation via the “independent property impact assessment panel” process set up by the state government had proven all but impossible for many owners, due to the difficulty getting access to information and because the burden is on residents to show WestConnex is responsible.

“Why should they have to be the ones who have to prove that the damage is being caused by the tunnelling,” he said.

The panel itself could not even get access to documents.

“I think the process has been made deliberately difficult to limit the number of claims,” he said.

A Transport for NSW spokesman said “to date there has been minimal property damage claims received” by the independent panel.

“Any impact confirmed to be caused by construction (is) addressed at no cost to the resident by the contractor,” the spokesman said.

Transport for NSW would continue to meet its legal obligations under information access laws, said the spokesman, adding it had “worked extensively with Dentons on its requests”.

A completed section of the WestConnex project. Picture: Adam Yip

Some homeowners have told The Daily Telegraph they had to sign a nondisclosure agreement in order to get repair costs covered.

The tunnelling contractors, of which there is more than one, argued this was standard procedure.

Mr Allen said a decision on whether a class action is filed will hinge on the level of support in the community.

“WestConnex residents do really now need to step up to seek justice as a collective through the courts,” he said.

People who want to attend the “virtual town hall” on Tuesday night can register their interest at the website of litigation funding company Omni Bridgeway.

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