Overturning old deeds & claims against previous lawyers

Sadly in the past, many abuse survivors settled their claims for a fraction of their value. That was because of the massive legal hurdles which were in their way – time limits and a legal defence the churches used called the Ellis defence. In other cases, abuse survivors were let down by their lawyers. With poor legal advice, some survivors have settled their very valuable claims for pathetically small sums of money. But whether it was poor legal advice or unfair legal hurdles, many survivors have given up their legal rights for sums that were simply not appropriate.

In those cases there are two possible solutions:

1. You might be able to seek to have your old deed set aside by a Judge and then sue the offending Institution for full value.
2. You might have a claim for professional negligence against your former lawyer for getting you a very poor settlement.

Getting rid of your old deed

Laws passed in Victoria in recent years allow abuse survivors to go back to a Court and try and have their old settlement deeds set aside if the Court decides it is in the interests of justice to do so. This legislation applies to deeds signed before 1 July 2018. Typically you have to show that legal hurdles – time limits and/or the Ellis defence – influenced your decision to accept an inadequate sum of money and give up your right to further compensation.

Rightside Legal was the first law firm in Australia to use these laws to set aside old unfair settlement deeds – in Victoria and Western Australia – and we have got dozens of our clients out of old unfair settlements deed.

In many cases our clients have been able to gain more than $1million in further compensation.

Here are some examples of Rightside’s successes.

• “Joe” was abused at Monivae College, a boarding school in Hamilton, run by the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, where multiple staff, Brothers and Priests physically and sexually abused students. Joe engaged Waller Legal, a Melbourne legal firm, which in 2016 got Joe a settlement of $75,000 inclusive of legal costs. In 2023, Joe approached Rightside Legal, and working closely with Joe we were able to get rid of his old settlement deed and we forced the Missionaries to pay Joe in excess of another $1.8 million plus legal costs and on top of his earlier $75,000.
• “Steve” was abused by a notorious Christian Brother at Cathedral College in Melbourne. With Waller Legal representing him, Steve accepted $210,000 inclusive of legal costs in 2016 and signed a deed giving up his legal rights. Steve later retained Rightside Legal. After a long legal battle, Steve had his old deed set aside and sued the Christian Brothers for proper compensation. Ultimately we won Steve over $2.5 million in addition to his previous compensation.
• “Bill” was abused by a serial child abuser at Immaculate Heart College, a school run by the Marist Brothers. In November 2017, Angela Sdrinis Legal settled Bill’s claim for $185,000 inclusive of legal costs. In 2024, Bill engaged Rightside Legal to sue the Marist Brothers for proper compensation. With Rightside Legal, Bill found his voice, shared his story in court and was able to set aside his old deed. Rightside Legal made the Marist Brothers pay Bill just over $1.2 million plus legal costs. Bill kept his previous settlement too.

So if you have a settlement deed dated prior to 1 July 2018 – and you believe it’s for an unfair and too-small sum – get in touch. You may be able to set that deed aside. As a guide, most deeds entered into prior to 1 July 2015 are likely to be set aside. Deeds entered into between 1 July 2015 and 1 July 2018 will be harder but still might be possible. Deeds entered into since 1 July 2018 will be extremely hard to set aside.

Suing your former lawyer

In some cases, you will not be able to get rid of your old deed.

In those circumstances your option is to consider legal action against your former lawyer.

This is more difficult – and in some cases your former lawyer will not have been negligent: your case might have been very challenging and difficult to prove or their might have been other good reasons for accepting a reduced settlement sum.

In other cases your former lawyer might have done a poor job – but not bad enough to be negligent.

But in some other cases, your former lawyer may have been negligent.

Rightside Legal has succeeded in a handful of these claims against two Victorian law firms. Rightside Legal has also run the only case to verdict against an abuse lawyer who negligently settled an abuse survivor’s claim. The case involved Waller Legal, a prominent Victorian firm which has represented hundreds of survivors. In that case, Waller Legal did not claim lost earnings for their client (a critical and valuable part of most survivors’ claims) and settled his claim for only $130,000. Rightside Legal was able to set aside his deed in part – and won the man an extra $400,000.

Then our client sued Waller Legal to recover another portion of his losses. After a Supreme Court trial in 2025, the Court ordered Waller Legal to pay our client another $260,000. The judge found that Waller Legal’s failure to advise the client about claiming economic loss was negligent.

In Rightside Legal’s experience, this failure to claim economic loss (or lost earnings) on behalf of clients, was very common in the past among some Victorian law firms.

But remember – you have only six years to take legal action against your former lawyer. After that you lose your rights. So if you settled within the last six years for a sum that you now believe was unfair and fare too small you could seek advice.

(Note, because of a former class action against Waller Legal, you have extra time against that law firm – if you have settled with Waller Legal as your lawyers after about March 2018 you may have legal rights.)