Katherine will get its $92.5 million for the class action over PFAS contamination, the Federal Court confirmed today.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Justice Michael Lee said he believed after exploring the proposed settlements for Katherine, Oakey and Williamtown class actions by the Federal Goverment they were "fair and reasonable"
It is now expected payments to more than 1000 people registered for the claim in Katherine will begin flowing in the next few months.
The court accepted 179 late registrations from Katherine totaling $9.6 million which would mean a reduction in the payout to others who had registered their claims by the May 7 cut off date.
Some estimates before the court placed that reduction as five per cent of the estimated amounts which had already been directly sent to Katherine residents.
Justice Lee said it "was not in the interests of justice" to not to consider Katherine people with a claim.
A further $86 million will be given to Williamtown and Oakey $34 million for contamination of those communities as a result of PFAS contamination coming from Defence Department bases.
The Federal Court's decision today confirms the offer made by Defence in March to settle the cases before they went to trial.
The size of the proposed PFAS class action settlement for Katherine, Oakey and Williamtown was broadly accepted, the Federal Court heard today.
Justice Michael Lee said the settlement amount "as a headline figure" seemed to be largely satisfactory to most people.
He said the proposed settlement distribution scheme would include a review mechanism if people required.
Katherine's proposed $92.5 million PFAS class action payout was back before the Federal Court for final day of this latest hearing.
"The source of the concern appears to be the size of the deductions, particularly the legal costs," Justice Lee said.
Much of the discussion in court today was about those costs.
"To the layman it is the legal costs which seem to be excessive but in my view in a case of this complexity they are not out of the ball park."
The court has heard the legal costs had been independently investigated by the court.
"This was on every view of it a big case and not without risk of (not having) success," Justice Lee said.
"Every cent that goes on these payments is another cent which does not go to the people who have suffered the loss," he said as she scrutinised payments.
Lawyers told the court the number of objections received by the court on the proposed settlement was "very much in the minority".
More reading: More than 30 objections.
The court was told about 97 per cent of those registered for the claims had not objected.
Justice Michael Lee continued to hear submissions from various legal teams on the second day of hearings in the Federal Court.
He continued to question to suggest the legal fees would have been less if the three cases would have been brought forward as one.
Dentons represented the Williamtown case while Shine Lawyers represented Katherine and Oakey in the class action.
He discussed with lawyers the number of complaints made about differing valuations of properties.
"It is fairly notorious that different valuers can come up with different valuations," Justice Lee said.
Lawyers said the issue before the court now involved two "camps".
The first was glad there was a settlement "and just want to get on with their lives".
The second "camp" thought more money was appropriate.
Lawyers continued to state the proposed settlement from Defence "was a good one".
One said the settlement offer was "outstanding"
Some information was provided about the proposed case the Federal Government had proposed to mount included arguments over negligence.
It was suggested the used of firefighting foams at the defence bases may have been accepted as "common practice" at the time and the Commonwealth would likely argue it could not be considered negligent.
But the class action did not proceed to trial after a settlement offer was made to the class action by Defence earlier in the year.
Yesterday the court heard from people from the three areas about the impact of the PFAS contamination on their property values and their lives.
While you're with us, you can now receive updates straight to your inbox each Friday at 6am from the Katherine Times. To make sure you're up to date with all the news, sign up here.