The Australian Victorian Supreme Court has permitted a claim for damages by a secondary victim of abuse and effectively confirmed the extension of liability to secondary victims.

RWQ v The Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne & Ors [2022] VSC 483 involved a claim brought pursuant to Part IX of the Wrongs Act 1958 (VIC) (the ‘1958 Act). The claim was brought by a father whose son had allegedly been abused by George Pell, the second defendant to the proceedings and a Vatican official, in 1996 when Pell was appointed as an assistant priest, bishop, auxiliary bishop and cardinal in Australia. The claim was also brought against the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne, the first defendant.

The pleadings of the plaintiff alleged that his son had turned to illicit substances at the age of 14 to deal with the trauma of the alleged abuse and that this had resulted in his fatal heroin overdose…