A former student at the Australian National University ANU who successfully sued John XXIII College for breach of duty of care has had her payout cut by more than $150,000.
The woman said she was raped in an alleyway near Canberra nightspot Mooseheads in 2015 after she and others were thrown out of the college after a drinking session.
The woman had been involved in pub golf, which involved bar hopping, with participants expected to drink a certain number of drinks to make par. She had no memory of the alleged assault, but discovered it later when others told her that the other party had been joking about it.
She successfully sued college and the ACT Supreme Court awarded her more than $420,000 for damages, medical costs and economic loss.
The case was whether or not the college breached its duty of care by forcing the intoxicated students to leave the university campus and committing a further breach in the handling of the situation by staff.
In the appeal, the college contested facts, including that the woman had been intoxicated at the time she left the college, that the college knew about or condoned pub golf, and that the students were ordered to leave the premises rather than simply leave the residential area.
The woman, as a 20-year-old adult, had willingly engaged in the social event, and there was no duty of care owed to her in its response.
The Court of Appeal upheld the earlier ruling, but qualified its interpretation, allowing the appeal in part.
The evidence did not establish that a different course would have been taken by the students, and the woman and the person accused of rape, had the direction to leave the college not been given, in our view.
The primary judge's finding was that the college breached its duty of care in handling the complaint and was the more significant cause of the plaintiff's psychiatric injuries and disability. The woman's payout was cut to $267,000 and she was ordered to pay some legal costs.