A SOLICITOR who rushed to be the first to lodge a class action over the Black Saturday Kilmore East-Kinglake fires has been reprimanded.
Daniel Oldham pleaded guilty to misconduct over lodging class actions for the Black Saturday bushfires and the 2003 alpine fires in the names of victims who had not given permission.
In a recent ruling, the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal restricted the lawyer’s areas of practice to building, construction, property and owners corporation law for two years and fined him $30,000.
VCAT found he issued proceedings quickly “because of his self-interest in wanting his firm to be the first” and that he was “ignorant” of the many rules involving class actions.
It found that although a Black Saturday victim had not given permission to be named as the lead plaintiff, and then asked to be removed from that position, Mr Oldham took months to comply. The tribunal also found Mr Oldham did not have an alpine victim’s permission to use his name as lead plaintiff. “(The cases) involve incompetence and ignorance by a practitioner operating outside his area of expertise and without undertaking or organising adequate research,” it said.
Maurice Blackburn senior associate Rory Walsh said his firm had launched a class action in the Kilmore East–Kinglake fire – which was not associated with Mr Oldham or his firm Oldham Naidoo – and represented 1500 people. “We’re preparing for what is anticipated to be a hard-fought trial, which begins on January 29 next year and is expected to run in excess of five months,” he said.
