Strapped pupil awarded $3.6m

By GREG ANSLEY Canberra bureau chief

A massive $A2.96 million ($3.65 million) payout to a former Catholic schoolboy for two strappings administered 17 years ago has set Australia's lawyers scrambling to determine its value as a precedent for other claims.

With generations of Australians whacked as a matter of course until the relatively recent backlash against corporal punishment, 30-year-old Dr Paul Hogan's revenge on the Catholic Church and his former discipline master could unleash a new river of litigation.

Opinion yesterday was cautious and divided, as the Catholic Church has signalled a likely appeal and the specific issues raised in Hogan's claim may limit its use in future actions.

As it was, the jury found only that the most severe use of the strap by former St Johns College master Denis Fricot had been neither moderate nor reasonable - not that the beating itself was improper.

In fact, the jury found that Fricot was quite within bounds in giving Hogan five of the best for referring to him as a black bastard.

But a support group established to help the victims of sexual abuse by priests regards the multimillion-dollar award against Fricot and the Church as a breakthrough in their battle for compensation.

Victims should take heart from this, Broken Rites president Chris Macisaac said.

"You have to look at it from the point of view of the damage done, whether it is sexual or a rap over the knuckles."

For the Church, the award was a shattering blow.

Catholic Education Office acting executive director Natalie McNamara said the verdict was so manifestly excessive as to warrant consideration being given to an appeal.

Church barrister Ian Harrison was left all but speechless.

"I don't know how to respond to that figure, Your Honour," he told Justice James Wood in the New South Wales Supreme Court after the jury delivered its verdict.

The mega-dollar strappings took place on March 16, 1984, after Fricot had caught Hogan in breach of the strict uniform code of St Johns, in the western Sydney suburb of Lakemba.

Hogan received three straps across his right hand, which he claimed was bruised and swollen as a result. Later in the day another teacher overheard Hogan call Fricot a black bastard in the playground - an allegation denied by Hogan - and the pupil was given another strapping.

In court, Hogan - who now has a PhD in civil engineering and works part-time for the federal science organisation CSIRO - claimed that the wrongful strappings had permanently injured his hand.

He said it caused a chronic pain disorder and led to psychological and emotional problems.

Hogan also said the injuries had ruined his planned career as a construction project engineer.

The defence claimed the beatings were reasonable and moderate and challenged the injuries alleged by Hogan, pointing out that bone scans in 1984 had failed to reveal such damage, that subsequent doctors' visits had never referred to the injuries, and that claims of chronic pain disorder had never been supported by x-rays or other tests.

The jury found that Fricot did not have cause to strap Hogan on the first occasion.

And while the second bearing was justifiable, it was excessive and both Fricot and the Church were in breach of their duty of care.

It awarded Hogan $A700,000 in general damages, $A10,000 in aggravated damages, $A212,728 for past economic loss, $A1.58 million in future lost earnings, and $A22,000 for future medical treatment plus interest and superannuation losses.

But Hogan will have to wait for most of his payout after a stay on the award was granted yesterday.

Justice Wood granted an application for the stay by lawyers for the Church and Fricot.

The stay was granted on the condition that Hogan was paid $A500,000 and an appeal was lodged within 21 days.

Australian Plaintiff Lawyers Association president Dr Peter Cashman said he thought the damages award was likely to be overturned on appeal.

"The general damages component is in excess of the normal benchmark."