Our client, Sam*, experienced abuse in NSW youth detention as a teenager. This happened at a time when he should have been protected by the State that held him in its care. Instead, a senior officer at the facility used that position of trust to abuse him.
For decades afterwards, Sam carried the weight of that abuse alone. Coming forward as an adult, and pursuing a civil claim against the State, was never going to be easy.
This is how we helped him sue the State, and reach an outcome that let him move forward without the ordeal of a full trial.
The background: suing for abuse in NSW youth detention
As a teenager in the late 1980s, Sam was detained at a NSW juvenile justice facility. While there, he came under the direct supervision of a senior officer. This officer was responsible for his day-to-day welfare.
That officer began to sexually abuse him in places around the facility where he held unsupervised access to the young people in his care. Our client tried to raise what was happening with another staff member at the time. Nothing was done.
Like many survivors of institutional abuse, our client did not pursue a claim until many years later. The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse found that survivors took, on average, 23.9 years to tell anyone they had been abused, and that men typically took even longer. Coming forward decades later is common, and it does not close the door on a claim.
The claim against NSW State for officer’s conduct
We commenced civil proceedings in the District Court of New South Wales against the State of New South Wales. The claim was for damages for assault, battery and negligence, including aggravated and exemplary damages.
The State was sued directly, not the individual officer. As the operator of the facility, the State owed our client a non-delegable duty of care to keep him safe while he was in its custody. Therefore, the officer was vicariously liable for the actions of its own staff.
Read more of our civil law case studies.
Our approach
We built the claim on our client’s detailed account of what happened to him. This was set against the State’s own statutory duty to protect children in youth detention from exactly this kind of harm.
Litigating a historical abuse claim through to a full hearing means giving evidence, at length, about deeply personal and traumatic events, in a public courtroom. In these types of cases, there is no guarantee of a better result at the end of it. We discussed that reality with our client early.
Following this conversation, Sam decided that a certain, negotiated resolution on fair terms was the right outcome for him. We negotiated firmly with the State on that basis.
Why you can sue the State, not just the abuser. When a government employee abuses a person in their care, the responsible government body can be held liable. This can be done as the state is vicariously responsible for its employee’s conduct or because it breached its own duty of care to protect that person. This applies even decades later.
Read more in our fact sheet on suing the State for abuse by a government employee.
The outcome
The matter resolved by way of a negotiated settlement, formalised through a deed of release, followed by a notice of discontinuance. The claim never reached a final hearing.
For our client, that meant closing this chapter of his life on his own terms, without having to relive the abuse in the witness box.
Read a related outcome in our case study on abuse at a youth detention centre.
Need an abuse compensation lawyer?
If you or someone you care about was abused while in the care of a government facility, school, or other institution, you do not have to face it alone, and it is never too late to ask about your options. Our civil team handles these matters with discretion and complete confidentiality.
Request a free, no-obligation initial chat via the form below, or call us on (02) 9261 4281.
*We always change the names and other identifiable details in case studies to protect client privacy.
