The movie ‘Worth’ starring Michael Keaton is worth a look for lawyers working in the personal injury and insurance space. It tells the story of the victims compensation fund set up following the Twin Towers tragedy in September 2001. For those of us who remember the terrible events it was an unimaginable horror and struck our human hearts with sorrow like nothing else we had seen in the modern era. I remember I was watching Rove on channel 9 when the show cut out to a scene of one of the towers already on fire. Minutes later another plane struck the second tower and my heart sunk in horror and disbelief. Is this for real? Is this really happening?
The movie begs the question of how much is one persons’ life worth compared to another? Is a high powered CEO’s life working in one tower worth more than a cleaner scrubbing floors in the second tower? These are the kinds of questions the movie wants to answer but does not quite get there and that is probably because the human condition is complex and how we judge someone’s worth can often be subjective and arbitrary depending on who’s judging.
In institutional child sexual abuse claims we are often faced with the same dilemmas as legal practitioners and judges in this very complex and difficult area of law. The National Redress Scheme acknowledges the wrongs committed against survivors of child sexual abuse. The average payment acknowledging the wrongs committed against a survivor of institutional abuse is $85,000. It is probably enough to walk away with for most of us but whether you are walking away happy is another question.
At Chamberlains Law firm we give our client’s the opportunity to explore what their claim might be worth. Our aim is to achieve an acknowledgement of the wrongs committed against our survivors and financial settlement through civil abuse action in the courts that meets our client’s individual circumstances. There is no perfect settlement and there are never guarantees in litigation but we will fight hard to ensure we get the best outcome we can for our clients.
This article was prepared with the assistance of Keziah Holdsworth*
If you have any questions or concerns please contact our Abuse Compensation Director Jon May on 02 6188 3600