‘Genuine intention to settle’: Mediation hoped to resolve Ashley Youth Detention Centre class action

The massive Ashley Youth Detention Centre class action has grown even bigger, and is hoped to settle at mediation next June without needing to head to trial. Latest from court.

Ashley Youth Detention Centre near Westbury in northern Tasmania.

The first-ever class action in Tasmanian history – the massive Ashley Youth Detention Centre case – is hoped to settle at mediation next June without needing to head to trial.

On Friday, lawyers for both sides appeared in the Supreme Court of Tasmania for an administrative hearing that thrashed out a range of issues ahead of next year’s battle.

Lachlan Armstrong KC told Justice Michael Brett that the list of plaintiffs had now grown by 27 to 161, and that they were now also suing over the torts of battery and false imprisonment.

The plaintiffs have already flagged they are suing the state of Tasmania for negligence, claiming they were subject to a range of abuses, neglect and sexual assault while locked up at the troubled Deloraine detention centre.

Ashley Youth Detention Centre. Picture: Alex Treacy

On Friday, Mr Armstrong asked Justice Brett for more than a dozen court-imposed orders, including a provision to excuse the defendant – the state of Tasmania – from filing an amended defence to the altered state of claim with the additional torts.

He said this was to save the state government from distraction of its resources, and instead focus on other work ahead of the mediation, “to give a mediation the best chance of success”.

Mr Armstrong said both sides were currently investigating a number of the claims made by former Ashley detainees, to come up with an estimate of losses suffered by the group, and that work had so far “been very fruitful”.

He said “a sample set” of the plaintiffs had undergone medical assessments as part of these investigations as part of the complicated, pre-trial process.

In February 2024, it is planned that both sides will meet with the mediator and discuss what work needs to be done before a June mediation.

Mr Armstrong said it was planned both sides would “go to that mediation with a genuine intention to settle”.

Justice Brett made all of the orders requested, other than an order related to opt-in and opt-out arrangements for plaintiffs ahead of the mediation – a matter he will rule on next week.

If the matter does reach trial, it will focus on the claims of four key plaintiffs – with the resolution of their cases creating a “template” to appropriately compensate the remaining plaintiffs.

The plaintiffs, who have had their names anonymised to protect their identities, claim they have been subject to “systemic negligence” at Ashley as far back as 1961, when the facility was the Ashley Home for Boys.

In documents lodged with the courts, the plaintiffs alleged an array of horrific instances of abuse – such as being forced to perform oral sex upon staff members, being bashed to the point of unconsciousness or hospitalisation, or being left alone and naked in isolation rooms for days.

The case will return to court on December 14.

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