A Supreme Court judge has formally approved a record $500 million settlement over the Kilmore East-Kinglake Black Saturday bushfires, which claimed the lives of 119 people and destroyed or damaged 1772 homes and properties.
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Justice Robert Osborn said on Tuesday that the background to the case was unique because of the scale, complexity and difficulty of the litigation which involved a fiercely contested 16-month civil trial.
About 5000 Victorians will share in a total payout of $494 million - the largest class action settlement in Australian history.
The no-fault settlement had been announced in July but needed to be formally approved by the Supreme Court. The payout will include $60 million in legal costs.
Power company SP AusNet, now known as AusNet Services, will have to pay $378.6 million, the state government $103.6 million and power maintenance contractor UAM $12.5 million.
AusNet Services has already paid out about $8.8 million to Beechworth residents in a previous Black Saturday settlement.
Carol Matthews, the lead plaintiff in the bushfire class action, was in court on Tuesday to hear the judge hand down the final orders.
Ms Matthews' son, Sam, 22, died in the family's St Andrews home in the February 2009 Kilmore East bushfire. He had insisted on staying at the house while his parents were away at a holiday retreat, believing the fire was not going to come anywhere near the property.
Ms Matthews, when giving evidence during the civil trial, said she was talking to her son on the phone when he told her it was time for them to come home.
"Before I could ask for further clarification ... suddenly he went 'Oh my god, the tree's on fire ... oh my god it's just exploded', then within seconds his whole tone of voice changed into a voice of panic and said 'Oh god there's fire everywhere'."
The bushfire began after a live line - owned and operated by AusNet Services - hit a power pole cable stay, igniting vegetation. The power line failed because a lightning strike had initiated cracks that made it susceptible to wind stress years earlier.
Bushfire victims argued AusNet Services should have replaced the line years earlier because it knew it had failed in the past. If it had, they said it could have prevented the fire. They also argued the Country Fire Authority, DSE and Victoria Police failed to give timely warnings to people in affected areas.
AusNet Services said the cracks in the line were not visible to the naked eye and that it could not have foreseen the fire. It argued it had complied with all its legal duties to maintain its power lines.
The state argued it was not obliged to tell residents whether to stay or leave on the day of the fire, and had provided adequate warnings.
AusNet Services, which changed its name from SP AusNet this year, used liability insurance to cover the cost of both lawsuits and is facing another expensive civil trial over the Black Saturday bushfire that destroyed Marysville, killing almost 40 people.
Two further Black Saturday lawsuits have also been filed against AusNet Services - one involving a $50 million lawsuit over the Mickleham-Kilmore fire and the second involving more than two dozen Gippsland bushfire victims hoping to recover up to $5 million in lost or damaged property.
Justice Osborn said the settlement involved a large and commercially significant sum which would give the bushfire class action members finality and minimise their stress and anxiety.
