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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Christopher Knaus

Court battle by survivor of Catholic church abuse will help others challenge past settlements, lawyers say

A survivor known as DZY took a case to the high court seeking to set aside a past decision not to pursue compensation for the economic loss he suffered as a result of the abuse. The court declined his application but its ruling was still significant, his lawyers say.
A survivor known as DZY took a case to the high court seeking to set aside a past decision not to pursue compensation for the economic loss he suffered as a result of the abuse. The court declined his application but its ruling was still significant, his lawyers say. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

Lawyers for an abuse survivor say a high court ruling on Wednesday will pave the way for more survivors to challenge past settlements that “served only to protect the church institutions” from paying out genuine compensation.

The survivor, known as DZY, was confronted with insurmountable legal barriers to his planned civil action against the Christian Brothers in 2012 over abuse at the hands of two Catholic brothers, brothers Robert Best and Gerald Fitzgerald, in the 1960s.

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