Council joins MAVin action

By Bridget Brady
CASEY council has joined its peak body and insurer as a third party in the class action relating to the Stevensons Road landfill debacle.
The council has joined the Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) in the class action for not granting it indemnity as part of its insurance policy.
But MAV chief executive Rob Spence said the MAV was yet to determine if the council was insured for that particular incident, which saw some residents evacuate the Brookland Greens estate when explosive levels of methane gas were found in some homes.
“They (council) are insured (with MAV). The question is in this matter whether the policy does extend to this matter,” Mr Spence said. “They might be insured or they might not.”
Law firm Slater and Gordon is representing about 600 residents from the Cranbourne estate in the class action against the council after the value of residents’ homes plummeted when the incident occurred in September 2008.
Casey council has already joined SITA Australia, LMS Generation and the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) as third parties in the class action.
The council last month expanded its claim against SITA Australia and LMS Generation to now include loss and damage suffered by the council in relation to the rehabilitation costs incurred at the landfill site. The council said it faced a $60 million blow-out as a result of the incident and last year called on the State Government to chip in $35.6 million to ease its ‘financial burden’.
The City of Casey lodged its defence to the class action in February 2009.
“The City of Casey is vigorously defending the class action against it because we believe we have not been negligent in either managing the landfill site or addressing the issue of gas migrating into the neighbouring estate,” mayor Lorraine Wreford said.