Derwent Court nursing home loses decades-old legal battle

In an unusually drawn-out legal battle that has taken decades to finalise, a Hobart nursing home forced to close in 1997 has lost a Federal Court appeal against its lawyers for negligent advice.

The former Derwent Court nursing home, which closed in 1997.

THE OPERATOR of a Hobart nursing home that closed more than 20 years ago has lost a protracted court battle against its lawyers that involved a high-profile Tasmanian QC-turned-judge.

The 51-bed Derwent Court facility, which operated from a grand heritage-listed mansion in Fitzroy Place, closed in 1997 when the Federal Government revoked approval and funding, according to a Federal Court judgment handed down on Thursday.

Four reviews of the home were undertaken the year prior, finding it failed to meet standards on fire safety, dementia and continence care, and pain management, leading to Derwent Court losing its $1 million in recurrent funding.

The elderly residents were subsequently moved to Rosary Gardens nursing home at New Town.

The former Derwent Court Nursing Home in Star Street off Fitzroy Place in Hobart.

In 1998, the full court of the Federal Court set aside the ministerial decision to deregister Derwent Court.

The operator, Jadwan, a trustee of the Alexander family, subsequently took action against its lawyers Rae & Partners, Wilson Dowd, Toomey Maning & Co and a Melbourne solicitor, in the Supreme Court of Tasmania in 2003, for alleged professional negligence.

Jadwan said its lawyers failed to advise it had grounds to challenge the government sanctions and didn’t advise of new aged care legislation that might have changed its outcome.

It also filed proceedings against legal firm Worsley Darcey for a lost opportunity in taking action against David Porter QC, later appointed a Supreme Court of Tasmania judge, for not advising to seek an injunction.

Jadwan’s original damages claims were dismissed, but it mounted a complex appeal that was finally heard in the Federal Court during 2018.

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It argued a number of grounds and raised evidence that its nursing home provided excellent conditions for residents.

It cited a letter from one of its doctors to the Mercury, published in 1997 and co-signed by 18 other medical practitioners, that Derwent Court provided “overwhelmingly generous and indeed loving care” and inferences that its care was insufficient should be refuted.

Jadwan also argued it had evidence to show it had improved fire safety at the nursing home. If successful, the operator sought an order for the matter to be remitted for an assessment of damages.

But Federal Court judges David O’Callaghan, Robert Bromwich and Michael Wheelahan dismissed the appeal last week, finding that even if Jadwan had been given “reasonable and prudent advice” by its lawyers, it hadn’t established it would have applied for an injunction or become an approved aged care provider under the new legislation.