Williamtown class action members who are dissatisfied with the proposed $86 million settlement with the federal government will have an opportunity to make their views known to Federal Court justice Michael Lee before any settlement is approved.
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If divided equally, the 500 members of the Red Zone class action would each receive $172,000 before costs, which are expected to be about 35 per cent. An independent administrator is currently assessing individual losses that will determine the size of members' payouts.
A number of class action members have expressed dissatisfaction with the proposed settlement because they do not believe it is enough to compensate them for the loss of value to their properties or allow them to leave the area.
Class action member Rob Roseworn wrote to Justice Lee two weeks ago to express his concern about the proposed settlement, including what he said was a lack of consultation with the wider membership group.
"Your Honour, this settlement is not fair, the community has been railroaded and kept in the dark by all decision making stakeholders," Mr Roseworn wrote.
"This is the community's class action and we ask you to decline to approve the settlement on the grounds of fairness and send the lawyers back to approach a more equitable settlement.
"The community of 100 out of 500 class action members believe that the proposed settlement condemns them to a life fully exposed to the ongoing contamination with no way out."
In response Justice Lee's associate Nicholas Carey told Mr Roseworn that his letter had been filed as an objection.
He also advised that Justice Lee would make a number of directions today relating to the applications to approve settlements for class action members in Williamtown, Oakey and Katherine.
"One of those directions will be for any objections to the settlement to be provided to the court," Mr Carey wrote.
"A communication will also be ordered to be given to group members, which will notify group members of their entitlement to come along to the settlement approval hearing and make any submissions that they wish to make relating to the proposed settlement.
Mr Roseworn said he planned to make his concerns about the settlement process known today.
He said he expected members from the Oakey and Katherine class actions to also object to their respective proposed settlements.
"There are a number of matters of concern to (class action) members and Justice Lee noted in his address to a law conference in 2017 that the actions of lawyers and funders need to be clearly in the interest of class action members," Mr Roseworn said.
"It is noted that figures previously published in the media were from figures provided by the litigation funders to the Australian Stock Exchange".
