TAFE to payout $33m over botched aviation training

Box Hill Institute must pay aviation students $33m after a court heard teaching standards were so low that a trainee pilot was almost killed.

Students have won a landmark class action against Box Hill Institute.

Students from Box Hill Institute will share $33m in a class action payout after a landmark Supreme Court settlement.

The aviation students took action against the institute after they found teaching standards in their aviation course were so low that one student was almost killed in a crash.

The course provider, Soar Aviation, was temporarily stripped of the right to train pilots after many students doing the course did not meet Civil Aviation Safety Authority requirements to obtain a commercial pilot’s licence.

Almost 200 students joined in a class action by Gordon Legal, which was settled in the Supreme Court this month.

Justice Dixon approved a settlement that will see Box Hill Institute pay $33m to the students.

This includes $4.62m for legal costs, $3.25m for administration costs $49,000 for court costs, $20,000 for the first plaintiff’s time and $15,000 for subsequent plaintiffs, among other payments.

Almost 200 student pilots joined the class action against Box Hill Institute seeking compensation for tuition fees, additional costs and lost time. Picture: Stuart McEvoy

The balance of the sum will be paid in compensation to the members of the class action, some of whom spent $100,000 for a course that did not lead to a qualification.

The settlement will see the students get a maximum of $70,000 to compensate them for their time and out-of-pocket expenses.

The legal action against Box Hill Institute started in March 2020 and involved students enrolled in the Diploma of Aviation (Commercial Pilot Licence – Aeroplane) between December 2015 and March 2020.

The students sought compensation for tuition fees, lost time, additional costs, interest and legal costs.

Gordon Legal partner Andrew Grech said the settlement was an “excellent” result for members of the class action who had endured the stressful proceedings.

“We are pleased to have achieved this settlement for our clients and look forward to providing group members who have decided to participate in the settlement scheme with closure after what has been a stressful time for them,” he said.

“This proceeding is a great example of the utility of class actions. Without a class action system, group members would not have been able to successfully bring their claims and would have been left with no viable recourse.

“This settlement is a huge relief for me and all the other group members in this class action.”

Representative plaintiff Nerita Somers said she looked forward to putting the case behind her.

“To have achieved such a positive outcome is a credit to the hard work of everyone involved,” she said.

More than 550 former students have lodged compensation claims in the wake of the settlement – just over half of the cohort that studied the aviation course between 2015 and 2020.

Claims range between $15,000 and $80,000, with some students completing their entire course at Box Hill.

Mr Grech said class action members were expected to use their payouts to cover HECS debts and loan fees because many students were left out of pocket from Box Hill while undertaking their studies at other institutions.

But he said the ordeal had driven some students away from the aviation field permanently.

“Most of these people were pretty young, so it’s no small thing for them to have the courage to take on a large institution like the Box Hill Institute,” he said.

“Many of them will also use the money to complete their pilot training.

“But some of them had such a bad experience that they’ve been put off pilot training for life.”