Dunalley bushfire negligence lawsuit pushed back to October

A massive lawsuit involving hundreds of people affected by the Dunalley bushfire will proceed to trial later this year – but only if the parties can’t settle out of court first.

THE massive lawsuit will go to court later this year.

An October trial date has been booked for a court battle between hundreds of people who lost property in the 2013 Dunalley bushfire and the duo they claim was responsible.

More than 400 people have accused Melissa Jayne Barrett and Hamish Robinson of negligently causing the blaze, which destroyed 193 homes at Dunalley and surrounding areas, by failing to extinguish a campfire on their Forcett property. The estimated cost of the blaze was in excess of $100 million.

Ms Barrett and Mr Robinson have denied the claims.

The case is one of the biggest in Tasmanian legal history and any settlement is expected to involve a multi-million dollar figure.

Dunalley local Andrew Kelly and George Daly employed by Hazell Bros. to clean up bushfire affected properties, working at Noel and Judy Young's property.

The matter will not proceed as a class action, but will instead run with two plaintiffs as “test cases” to determine matters of negligence and loss, with any winnings in a lump sum to be distributed among the claimants.

The test plaintiffs have been chosen as their particular claims raised a wide range of potential loss issues – such as the dollar value of damaged fences or trees – to be determined by Supreme Court of Tasmania judge Stephen Estcourt.

Dunalley Primary School after the 2013 bushfire.

Melbourne silk Lachlan Armstrong QC will act on behalf of the plaintiffs, while Ken Read SC and Jack Rush QC will act for the defendants.

On Monday, Mr Armstrong told Justice Estcourt the matter would only proceed to trial if the parties didn’t settle out of court in mediation sessions beforehand.

“Most of the bushfire cases (interstate) … have so far settled, and we would be optimistic that this case would settle as well,” he said.

Mr Armstrong also said Barry Bones, the Tasmania Fire Service regional fire commander, would be called to give expert evidence if a trial date did proceed.

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Initially, the case was due to proceed to a June 9 trial date, but that date was vacated on Monday given COVID-19 restrictions have pushed back the court’s calendar.

Justice Estcourt set the matter down for October 19 in response to Mr Armstrong’s concerns that parties needed to “working to deadlines” or there could be the “danger of slippage”.

The case could be delayed again if coronavirus restrictions hamper an October trial date.

The plaintiffs claim the defendants caused the 14-day bushfire by failing to properly extinguish the campfire, in a tree-stump, on December 28, 2012.

But the pair said that didn’t occur, and that the fire was put out before the bushfire kicked off on January 3, 2013.