The Victorian government’s catastrophic hotel quarantine scheme has prompted a class action lawsuit against it.
The lawsuit, filed by Victorian companies, seeks to compel the government to compensate them for costs incurred during the state’s lockdown in July 2020.
The government’s quarantine motels failed to prevent Covid illnesses, leading to the state’s second lockdown.
A later investigation revealed that the hotels had inadequate health controls in place, and that the programme was to blame for the 18,000 illnesses and 768 fatalities.
Justice John Dixon denied the State of Victoria’s request to have the lawsuit dismissed on Friday.
The class action’s main attorney, Quinn Emanuel attorney Damian Scattini, said the decision was a significant victory for company owners.
According to Mr. Scattini, who was quoted by the Herald-Sun, “when the Victorian government agreed to conduct a mandatory hotel quarantine programme, it took on a duty to ensure it was maintained effectively.”
There wouldn’t have been a second lockdown if the hotel quarantine programme had been handled skillfully by the persons in charge.
“That lockdown destroyed enterprises, and we are providing company owners with a means to recover part of what they lost through this class action.”
The class action relates to tens of thousands of companies that offered goods or services to the general public from brick-and-mortar locations in Victoria and sustained financial damage as a result of Victoria’s second shutdown, he continued.
After Covid escaped from the Rydges and Stamford Plaza hotels and caused stage 3 and stage 4 limitations, the businesses are suing for damages.
They asserted that a four-person family held at the Rydges infected hotel staff and private security personnel.
The family’s disease was eventually epidemiologically traced to eight workers and nine of their contacts, despite the infected not donning masks or washing their hands.
It is alleged that a traveller and a couple introduced the illness to security officers at the Stamford Plaza in early June.
26 coworkers, a nurse, and 19 other contacts later contracted it.
By mid-August of 2020, according to the companies launching the class action, genomic sequencing revealed a grouping of around 75% of community infections with the quarantine hotel infections.
They claim that “transmission at each hotel would not have occurred” if “the (State of Victoria) had conducted themselves prudently to the proper standard.”
The state government’s programme to quarantine hotels has recently suffered a setback thanks to the class action verdict.
The health and safety watchdog accused Victoria’s health department of violating the Occupational Health and Safety Act on numerous occasions in September 2021.
According to WorkSafe, the Department of Health put both employees and visitors at risk of COVID by failing to create a safe working environment.
The department could be fined up to $95 million for suspected Act violations.
On October 21 of last year, Melburnians were let out of their sixth lockdown. The state’s protracted lockdowns earned Mr. Andrews the nickname “Dictator Dan.”
Prior to the upcoming election on November 26th, four of Victoria’s most senior government ministers have since resigned from their positions.
These officials include former Deputy Premier and Minister of Education James Merlino, Minister of Health Martin Foley, Minister of Police Lisa Neville, and Minister of Sports Martin Pakula.
They all had significant contributions to make in order to enforce Victoria’s 262-day closure.