Robodebt Class Action

Federal Court has approved Robodebt settlement

SETTLEMENT FAQs HERE GENERAL CLASS ACTION FAQs HERE GORDON LEGAL MEDIA STATEMENT HERE JOINT MEDIA STATEMENT HERE LODGE AN ENQUIRY

End of the Robodebt Class Action

Gordon Legal’s involvement in the Robodebt settlement scheme has come to an end.

Gordon Legal was appointed to assist with enquiries in relation to the payments that were made to members of the class action, under the settlement that was reached with the Australian Government. Those payments have now been made, and the opportunity to review your settlement payment has now passed.

For assistance with any queries, you should contact Centrelink on 1800 171 846 or Social Security Rights Victoria on 03 9481 0355.

What the Robodebt Class Action achieved

The Representative Applicants commenced the Robodebt Class Action on 19 November 2019. On 16 November 2020, the scheduled first day of trial, the Representative Applicants and the Commonwealth agreed a settlement.

Since the commencement of the class action, more than $1.7 billion in financial benefits will have been provided to approximately 430,000 group members, including the following benefits:

The Commonwealth will pay $112 million in compensation to approximately 400,000 eligible individual Group Members, including legal costs;
The Commonwealth has repaid more than $751 million in debts collected from Group Members invalidly and will continue to provide refunds;
The Commonwealth has agreed to drop claims for repayment of approximately $744 million in invalid debts that had been partly paid back, as well as dropping claims for $268 million in invalid debts where no repayments had been made.

Key points of Robodebt Class Action

Since the commencement of the class action, more than $1.7 billion in financial benefits will have been provided to approximately 430,000 group members, including the following benefits:

The Commonwealth will pay $112 million in compensation to approximately 400,000 eligible individual Group Members, including legal costs;
The Commonwealth has repaid more than $751 million in debts collected from Group Members invalidly and will continue to provide refunds;
The Commonwealth has agreed to drop claims for repayment of approximately $744 million in invalid debts that had been partly paid back, as well as dropping claims for $268 million in invalid debts where no repayments had been made.

Gordon Legal is proud to have achieved this historic result which resolves the claims of hundreds of thousands of people who were issued with Centrelink debts calculated wholly or partly on the basis of averages derived from ATO income data.

Court documents

Copies of the Court documents are available below:

Opt Out Notice, Amended Originating Application, Second Further Amended Statement of Claim, Amended Reply, Court Orders (6 March), Court Orders (5 May), Court Orders (19 June), Court Orders (27 July 2020), Court Orders (17 August 2020), Court Orders (7 September 2020), Court Orders (17 September 2020), Court Orders (21 September 2020), Court Orders (14 October 2020), Second Further Amended Defence, Court Orders (23 December 2020), Deed of Settlement, Settlement Approval Court Orders (11 June 2021), Settlement Approval Judgment, Settlement Approval Judgment Summary

SETTLEMENT FAQs HERE GENERAL CLASS ACTION FAQs HERE GORDON LEGAL MEDIA STATEMENT HERE JOINT MEDIA STATEMENT HERE LODGE AN ENQUIRY

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What is a Class Action?

A Class or Group Action is a Court procedure which allows people with similar claims against another party to bring their action in one Court Proceeding rather than requiring them to go to the cost (and take the individual risk) of commencing their own claim.

In Australia, the law provides individual Group or Class members the opportunity to Opt Out of the Proceedings if they do not wish to participate or wish to bring their own individual claim.

The benefit of Class or Group Actions is that it means that claims that would otherwise not be economically viable for a person to bring on their own behalf are able to be gathered together so that the costs and risks can be shared among a larger group of people with similar claims.

What are the risks of participating in a Class Action?

The risks of participating in a Class Action are similar to the risks that any person bringing an individual claim would face, except that the risk of having to pay the other party’s legal costs if the claim is unsuccessful only falls on the Representative Plaintiff or Applicant.

It is important to understand that you do not face the individual risk of an adverse costs order unless you agree to become the Representative Plaintiff or Applicant. If that was the case then your lawyer will discuss those risks with you very carefully before you agreed to act as the Representative Plaintiff or Applicant.

Robodebt Class Action