When launching the legal action last year,Medibank argued that an injunction would prevent multiple overlapping proceedings from taking place – a reference to the class action in the Federal Court,which is also seeking compensation for victims.
Charles Bannister,who is running the OAIC complaint along with Maurice Blackburn,says the representative complaint is a far better option for victims,given that the class action could take years and litigation funders get a significant slice of the payout.
“We have no funder taking a slice,and we are cheaper,better and quicker,” he said. Bannister said it is possible that the OAIC will finalise its investigation this year.
“The investigation of the commissioner appears to be well progressed,” he said.
The representative complaint could use the Privacy Act to get compensation for these victims if an OAIC investigation finds Medibank’s cyberprotection was inadequate.
A crucial point aiding the representative complaint is that the Medibank application did not seek to prevent the commission – headed by commissioner Angelene Falk – from continuing its own investigation into the hack. The OAIC’s ongoing investigation is to determine whether the company should face multimillion-dollar fines for inadequate cyber preparation.