Queensland government settlement talks with Wivenhoe dam flood victims fail

Settlement talks between the Queensland government and victims of the 2011 Wivenhoe Dam floods have failed.

The Wivenhoe Dam. Picture: Rob Williams

Settlement talks between the Queensland government and victims of the 2011 Wivenhoe Dam floods have failed, after the government and dam operators sought a “very deep discount” in potential compensation to be paid to the claimants.

Nearly 7000 flood victims won a landmark class action victory late last year when the NSW Supreme Court ruled that the state-owned Wivenhoe Dam was negligently managed during the 2011 flood disaster in southeast Queensland.

The claimants’ quest for compensation, estimated at up to $1bn, stalled after dam operators Seqwater and SunWater appealed the judgment, and state government indicated it would try to benefit from the ­appeal.

Delaying the matter further, flood victims have been told by their class action lawyers, Mau­rice Blackburn, that a three-day mediation earlier this month failed to reach a settlement.

“Whilst some progress was made in mediation, the amounts being offered by the defendants fell a long way short of the amount the litigation committee would be prepared to accept and indeed well short of what we expect the court would be willing to approve,” Maurice Blackburn principal lawyer and executive director Rebecca Gilsenan wrote.

“The defendants sought a very deep discount on the loss assessment that we have performed for the class using independent loss adjusters, without having themselves done any comprehensive loss assessment or being willing to show us any evidence of why the discount was warranted.

“We are acutely aware of the fact that a decade has passed and the negligent defendants and their insurers have had the benefit of compensation that is owed to the class. Despite this, and despite their comprehensive loss in the Supreme Court, they are still not seeking to resolve their liabilities for an appropriate amount.”

The court is expected to decide next month how best to determine the flood victims’ losses.

Maurice Blackburn, for the victims, has suggested the court appoint an independent referee to determine the accuracy of a sample loss assessment previously conducted, which can be used to estimate overall costs.

The operators want the 6500 claims to be dealt with by “individual adversarial assessment”.