Knowmore Class Action explained

 

What is the National Redress Scheme?

The National Redress Scheme provides redress to survivors primarily in the form of a Redress Payment capped at a maximum of $150,000. In 2015, there was substantial legislative reform across Australia, which greatly improved the civil claims of survivors. The size of damages awarded and settlement sums also grew substantially, in many cases to over $1,000,000.

In order to accept a Redress Payment, a claimant must release the institutions responsible for their abuse from future legal action, in particular, being sued for damages.

Brian’s story

Our client – and leading plaintiff in this class action – Brian Holmes, alleges Knowmore failed to provide him with adequate advice about his compensation options before accepting a National Redress Scheme payment and thereby extinguishing his rights to a civil claim.

Brian alleges that because of Knowmore’s failures, he and group members in the class action have suffered loss and damage.     

In December 2020, Knowmore Legal Service assisted Brian to pursue a Redress Claim relating to abuse he suffered as a child when he was in the care of the State of Victoria and the Salvation Army (Burwood Boy’s Home).

With Knowmore’s advice, he accepted a redress payment of $43,463 and in exchange, he gave away his rights to sue the State of Victoria and the Salvation Army for many hundreds of thousands.

Brian alleges that as a result of Knowmore system he and group members in the class action have suffered loss and damage. When Brian was initially provided with the Redress offer of $43,463 he said the offer was a “kick in the face after all the crap” he’d been through.  He said that he was “absolutely disgusted” with the offer and “found it very insulting”.

Brian said he wanted to tell the National Redress Scheme that it was not enough, and he instructed Knowmore to ask for a review of the offer. Knowmore sought a review of the offer, which was rejected. Knowmore then directed Brian towards accepting the offer under the National Redress Scheme and away from a civil action against the State of Victoria and the Salvation Army, without advising him of the advantages of a suing, including the likely higher compensation that could be achieved compared to the redress payment.  

Kim Price, head of Arnold Thomas & Becker’s abuse practice, is leading this class action and said:

“We are alleging that thousands of Australians have received inadequate advice from Knowmore.  As lawyers, Knowmore had a responsibility to ensure these survivors properly understood the compensation options available to them and critically the value of the claim they were giving up. Instead, Knowmore applied a sausage factory approach providing survivors with generic information that fell far short of being adequate legal advice.  Survivors were rarely if ever given any advice by Knowmore about the size of their potential claims had they elected to proceed with a civil claim and sued.

“It is no wonder that so many have take Redress as they’ve had no real understanding of the size of the potential compensation they were giving up.”

If this sounds like your experience, contact us urgently

If you are one of the many like Brian, you may be eligible for additional compensation.

Arnold Thomas & Becker is investigating claims settled by Knowmore, so contact one of our experienced abuse lawyers urgently to see how we can help you secure your full entitlements. You may be entitled to compensation in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.