Grumbles in looming methane class action

By Elizabeth Hart
COMPLAINTS continue to boil about everyday living conditions at Brookland Greens housing estate in Cranbourne, as a Supreme Court action looms over damage from gas leaks last year at the adjoining landfill.
Beeping of gas monitors, false alarms, residents’ demands for results of gas monitoring, and sleep dis-turbance from trucks, air valves, and machinery are among the grievances.
Lawyers for the Cranbourne Landfill Gas Emissions Class Action have the task of quantifying disturbances as part of a claim for damages against the City of Casey.
Representing 577 households on the estate, the firm Slater and Gordon is monitoring lifestyle conditions and property values.
The firm is now reviewing the council’s 64-page defence in the Supreme Court proceeding, which is expected to occur in 2010.
And when the claim goes to a hearing on 1 May this year, Slater and Gordon will request mediation.
The City of Casey is the sole respondent in the action.
It is unclear yet whether the council will apportion blame to other parties such as the Environment Protection Authority.
Hopes for compensation are high. Slater & Gordon told residents last week they had “good prospects of success”.
At the centre of the class action are claims of declining property values. But unpredictable housing markets are clouding attempts to quantify the impact of the gas leaks on houses in the estate. “Ultimately, each individual’s loss and damage will be different and will need to be separately assessed,” Slater and Gordon’s Ben Hardwick stated last week in a letter to residents.
Residents are keeping records of failed attempts to refinance, and representatives from Slater & Gordon last week attended an auction to monitor any impact on house sales.
Properties farthest away from the landfill have sold over the pastfew months, and valuers for the applicants in the class action are attempting to fathom the significance of the sales.
“Clearly it is not an ideal time to be marketing property in the Brook-land Greens estate,” Mr Hardwick told residents.
“However, some will have no choice but to sell.”
In its defence, Casey Council has denied it had a duty of care to prevent the spread of landfill gas into the estate.
The council is also arguing no decline in property values, no material injury to most households, no exposure to significant levels of landfill gas to most households, and no knowledge before March 2006 of the leaks.
The council is also disassociating itself from evacuation advice the EPA and the CFA gave to residents last year.
Council would have “great difficulty in proving its defence”, Mr Hardwick said.