Two class action lawsuits against Victoria’s government that blame strict coronavirus restrictions on the bungled hotel quarantine program should be thrown out of court, according to lawyers.
Government lawyer Rachel Doyle SC told a case management hearing in Victoria’s Supreme Court on Wednesday that he wanted to apply for a summary dismissal.
This would mean the two cases would be completely thrown out of court.
Two separate class actions allege the strict lockdown in the state stemmed from failures in the state’s hotel quarantine program.
A Keilor Park restaurant is heading one class action for businesses arguing it should get compensation for losses during the lockdown allegedly caused by negligence due to failures in the quarantine program.
A 21-year-old worker who was retrenched is heading the second case for workers who lost income during the lockdown alleging it was a “breach of duty”.
Government lawyers will argue the case should be dismissed at a two-day hearing in May.
However, a third case between Dragan Markovic and two security firms who supplied guards to hotels linked to outbreaks has been adjourned for a later date.
Mr Markovic’s 83-year-old father died in hospital after he was moved from aged care in August last year.
The family’s lawyer Tim Tobin SC said it wasn’t clear which strain of the virus he contracted but more than 98 per cent of cases could be traced back to either Rydges Hotel or Stamford Plaza.
“There’s no doubt it came from one of the hotels,” Mr Tobin said on Wednesday.
But lawyers for security companies Unified Security Group and MSS Security want “inadequacies” in the case fixed, including clarity around which firm should be sued.
Only the company who provided security to a particular hotel where the strain originated from should be named in the lawsuit, they argued.
That case will return to court later this month.
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