A former student at the Australian National University (ANU) who successfully sued John XXIII College for a breach of its duty of care, has had her payout cut by more than $150,000.
The woman said she was raped in an alleyway near Canberra nightspot Mooseheads in 2015, after she and others had been thrown out of the college after a drinking session.
The woman had been involved in an event known as "pub golf" which involved bar hopping, with participants expected to drink a certain number of drinks to make "par".
The woman had no memory of the alleged assault, but discovered it later, when others told her the other party had been joking about it.
The woman successfully sued the college and the ACT Supreme Court awarded her more than $420,000 for damages, medical costs and economic loss.
The main issues in the case were whether the college breached its duty of care by forcing the intoxicated students to leave the university campus and committed a further breach in the handling of the situation by staff.
In the appeal, the college contested facts including that the woman had been intoxicated at the time she left the college, that the college knew about or condoned "pub golf", that the head of the college at the time adopted a stance to protect its reputation, and that the students were directed to leave the premises, rather than simply ordered to leave the residential area.
The court heard the woman had willingly engaged in the social event, as a 20-year-old adult, and there was no duty of care owed to her in its response.
Today, the Court of Appeal upheld the earlier ruling, but qualified its interpretation, allowing the appeal in part.
"However, in respect of the direction to leave the college, in our view, the evidence did not establish that a different course would have been taken by the students generally, and [the woman and the person accused of rape] specifically, had the direction to leave the college not been given.
"The primary judge's finding was that the college breached its duty of care in the handling of [the] complaint and that was the more significant cause of the plaintiff's psychiatric injuries and disability."
The woman's payout was cut to $267,000, and she has been ordered to pay some legal costs.
Ruling still sends strong message despite reduced payout: lawyers
Lawyers for the woman said that even though the payout had been reduced, the ruling still sent a strong message to universities around the country.
Leanne McDonald from Shine Lawyers said the court had dismissed at least part of the college's appeal against its liability for students in its care.
"We hope this decision gives the countless other survivors of sexual violence in our universities the courage to come forward and find their justice," she said.
