A glance at quantum for child abuse cases -where might Queensland be heading?
It’s fair to observe that when it comes to awards for ‘general damages’ involving child abuse, assessments by courts have been quite varied (wide one might say).
The most recent instance of judicial consideration of damages for child sexual abuse was judgement of (now retired) DCJ McGill in BDT v. BDG (2019) QDC 74. It appears His Honour only considered Queensland cases involving sexual abuse (high water mark being decision in P v R (2010) QSC 139), generals assessed at a relatively (when compared to other-than- Queensland jurisdictions) modest $80,000.
Lawyers who practice in this area are well aware of the significant disparity between awards for sexual abuse in Queensland, and pretty well every other state in the federation. One need only note generals awarded in McRae v. The Boy Scout Association of New South Wales (2007) NSWDC 196, or XY v. Featherstone (2010) NSWSC 1366 (where generals were assessed at $300,000) to note the very significant gap between awards given in the Sunshine State and (at least ) New South Wales.
As the song goes however, ‘times they are a changin’ and it is well accepted that policy considerations eventually influence assessments of quantum of damages, especially general damages. Our common law well recognizes that the assessment of (general damages) should be made having regard, as far as possible, to the general standards prevailing in the community.
Lawyers in the area accept the general proposition that the difference in awards for general damages can be seen to be due to a theoretical acceptance of the proposition that community standards apparently differ between states/territories. But these are interesting times, and it is of course the case that there is only one common law in Australia, and intermediate appellant court determinations (including assessment of damages) from all jurisdictions within the commonwealth, are being referred to and offered up to single judge courts more often than they used to be, especially in this relatively new (and highly emotive) area of practice.