Court puts Brisbane floods class action claim against Seqwater engineers back to square one EXPERTS for Maurice Blackburn lawyers have released an animated flyover of areas they say should not have been flooded during the 2011 disaster. THE multi-billion class action for victims of the Brisbane floods is back to square one as a Sydney Court strikes out the original claim and asks for a new submission. The courtroom battle over whether Wivenhoe Dam engineers were partly responsible for the devastating 2011 floods is now expected to begin in July 2016. But law firm Maurice Blackburn, running the class action and backed by litigation funder IMF, will have to resubmit its statement of claims. Seqwater, which had control of Wivenhoe during the floods, is defending Maurice Blackburn claims that dam engineers followed a flawed strategy that led to much of the flooding. The class action alleges the dam engineers let the dam level become too high and were forced to empty too much water, which helped cause the flood. Seqwater chief executive Peter Dennis said that Justice Peter Garling identified a series of legal deficiencies in the case. "It will be necessary for the plaintiff's Statement of Claim to be re-pleaded," Justice Garling said in his findings. Water pours over the spillway at Wivenhoe Dam during the floods. Justice Garling said the plaintiff needed to address what dam level "the plaintiff contends ought to have been the appropriate." Any new statement of claim must be filed by February 13 next year. The plaintiffs will also need to provide rates or volumes of water that it alleges should have been released. "Seqwater has, for some time, been identifying the lack of detail provided in the case as well as requesting the expert report material commissioned by Maurice Blackburn," Mr Dennis said. It is pleasing and important that the court has sought to require Maurice Blackburn to clearly articulate its case. This is a positive result early in the court process. Danny Pearsall of Repco West End Autos Two has struggled to get back on his feet. Picture: Sarah Keayes Mr Dennis said Seqwater remained acutely aware of the impact of the January 2011 floods but was confident it would continue to show that its management had significantly ­reduced the flood impact. Damian Scattini, principal at Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, said the attempt to strike out the claim was just part of the legal positioning that ­always accompanied class ­actions. "Whatever happens, the class action will continue and our clients will get their day in court," he said. Danny Pearsall, who is still struggling to recoup the $1.4 million the Brisbane floods cost him, just wants his day in court. The proprietor of West End Autos believed his business would remain high and dry but a wall of water almost four metres high swept into the workshop, even taking a car that was sitting several metres above ground on a workshop hoist. Mr Pearsall is among more than 4000 claimants participating in the action. "Insurance didn't cover us and we have never managed to get back on track in the business," he said. After the flood, the State Government sacked all those public servants, and many public servants live in West End, so we lost more customers. We might not get much in the end, but anything at all would help at the moment.