A Ballarat man who spent six decades seeking legal accountability for abuse he alleges he suffered as a primary school child has had his Supreme Court trial abandoned — not by a judge, not by a jury, and not because his case lacked merit, but because the Catholic order he was pursuing has obtained a financial moratorium that legally freezes all civil claims against it.
Curtis Hogan, whose name VCN has agreed to publish with his consent, had been weeks away from a Victorian Supreme Court hearing when the Christian Brothers — a Catholic religious teaching order — secured the moratorium, effectively placing a legal hold on every outstanding civil claim against the organisation. For Mr Hogan, now in his late sixties, the development has brought an abrupt and devastating end to legal proceedings he had hoped would deliver accountability before his own health deteriorated further.
What the court documents allege #
Court documents seen by VCN allege that when Mr Hogan was approximately nine years of age and attending St Patrick’s Primary School in Ballarat, a member of the Christian Brothers — referred to in those documents as Brother Ryan — called him to the front of the classroom and directed him to sit on the Brother’s lap. The documents allege the conduct that followed constituted child sexual abuse.
VCN is not detailing the full nature of the alleged conduct out of respect for Mr Hogan’s dignity and in accordance with our obligations under the Judicial Proceedings Reports Act 1958 (Vic). Mr Hogan has consented to being named and has chosen to speak publicly about his experience.
The allegations against the individual named in those court documents have not been tested in court. The matter did not proceed to trial. No findings of fact have been made. All persons named in proceedings are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
What a moratorium actually means #
A moratorium, in this legal context, is a court-approved suspension of legal proceedings and enforcement actions against an organisation — most commonly granted when that organisation is facing insolvency, restructuring, or administration. It is, in practical terms, a financial shield: creditors, claimants, and litigants are legally prevented from pursuing their claims while the moratorium is in force.
For survivors of institutional abuse, the effect is especially brutal. Unlike a commercial creditor who can wait out a moratorium and resume a debt claim, abuse survivors often cannot afford to wait — not because of impatience, but because of age, declining health, and the profound psychological toll of having lived with unresolved trauma across a lifetime.
VCN understands the Christian Brothers obtained the moratorium in recent weeks, just as Mr Hogan’s matter was in final preparation for trial. The precise financial grounds on which the moratorium was granted have not been made public at this stage.
Ballarat’s long shadow #
Ballarat occupies a particular and painful place in Australia’s reckoning with institutional child sexual abuse. The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, which handed down its final report in 2017, documented in extensive detail the catastrophic failure of the Catholic Church — and the Christian Brothers specifically — to protect children in the city across several decades of the twentieth century.
The Commission found that between 1928 and 2015, at least 4,444 people had made claims of child sexual abuse in Catholic institutions across Australia. Ballarat was identified as one of the worst-affected communities, with St Alipius Boys School and other Catholic institutions the subject of extensive findings. The Commission’s case study into the Ballarat diocese found that Church leaders had, for decades, moved accused clergy and Brothers between postings rather than reporting conduct to police or removing individuals from contact with children.
For many Ballarat survivors who pursued civil claims after the Royal Commission, the legal pathway was already difficult — constrained for years by limitation periods that effectively barred historical claims. Victoria removed civil limitation periods for child abuse claims in 2015 under the Limitation of Actions Amendment (Child Abuse) Act, and a further legislative safety net — the National Redress Scheme — was established following the Royal Commission. But neither instrument is a substitute for a trial, and for survivors who wanted their day in court rather than a compensation payment processed through an administrative scheme, civil litigation remained their primary option.
That option has now been foreclosed for Mr Hogan — at least for the foreseeable future.
The National Redress Scheme and its limits #
The National Redress Scheme, administered federally, provides payments to survivors of institutional child sexual abuse of up to $150,000, alongside counselling support and a direct personal response from the institution responsible. The Christian Brothers are a participating institution.
However, the Scheme requires survivors to waive their right to civil litigation as a condition of accepting a payment. For survivors who had already commenced civil proceedings — like Mr Hogan — the interaction between the Scheme and a moratorium creates a particularly cruel bind: they cannot proceed with their trial, and accepting Redress means formally surrendering any future right to sue.
VCN is not in a position to report on whether Mr Hogan has pursued or intends to pursue options through the National Redress Scheme. He has not commented publicly on that question.
What Mr Hogan has said #
In remarks that have been reported in other outlets and which VCN has independently verified as genuine, Mr Hogan described the collapse of his trial as a profound loss — not only for himself, but for every other survivor whose claims against the Christian Brothers now sit in legal limbo. He is understood to be deeply concerned that the moratorium will outlast his own capacity to engage with the legal process.
VCN understands Mr Hogan has been supported throughout the legal process by a survivor advocacy organisation, though VCN is not identifying the organisation at Mr Hogan’s request.
Broader implications for institutional abuse survivors #
The Christian Brothers moratorium raises questions that extend well beyond Mr Hogan’s individual case. If a religious order can obtain a moratorium that halts all civil claims — including claims by survivors of child sexual abuse — then the carefully constructed post-Royal Commission legal architecture designed to deliver justice to those survivors can be neutralised by insolvency mechanisms that predate that architecture and were never designed with abuse survivors in mind.
Legal advocates working in this space have previously raised concerns with parliamentary committees about the vulnerability of survivor claims in institutional insolvency scenarios. At the time of publication, it is unclear whether the Victorian or federal government intends to examine whether legislative reform is needed to protect abuse survivor claims from being swept up in moratoriums of this kind.
VCN has contacted the Christian Brothers for comment. We have not received a response at the time of publication.
We have also contacted the Victorian Attorney-General’s office and the federal Minister for Social Services, who has carriage of the National Redress Scheme, seeking comment on whether any policy response is under consideration. Neither office responded before publication.
The matter remains unresolved #
The Victorian Supreme Court proceedings involving Mr Hogan have been halted. The allegations he brought before that court have not been tested, no evidence has been heard, and no findings have been made. The matter is currently subject to the moratorium obtained by the Christian Brothers. All persons named in proceedings are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Mr Hogan’s case is, VCN understands, one of a number of survivor claims against the Christian Brothers now affected by the moratorium. The full scope of that impact is not yet publicly known.
If you or someone you know has been affected by the issues raised in this article, support is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
- 1800RESPECT (sexual assault and family violence counselling): 1800 737 732
- Sexual Assault Crisis Line (Victoria): 1800 806 292
- Blue Knot Foundation (trauma and abuse support): 1300 657 380
- Lifeline (crisis support): 13 11 14
- Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636
- 13YARN (First Nations crisis support): 13 92 76
- Crime Stoppers: 1800 333 000
