EI CLASS ACTION GATHERS MOMENTUM - LAWYER

The Senior Partner of a legal firm conducting a class action on behalf of affected people and businesses in the thoroughbred and equine industries says that they have been inundated with enquiries since articles of the class action were published three weeks ago.

Jeff Garrett of Attwood Marshall Lawyers said that he had been contacted by a huge variety of people affected by the EI restrictions.

"We have had enquiries from equestrian photographers, produce store proprietors, stallion and broodmare owners, transport companies, racehorse owners and trainers, non-thoroughbred breeders and various associations of people who work in the industry. Its amazing the extent of the losses that everyone has suffered and will continue to suffer until this mess is sorted out".

Mr Garrett said that at this stage his firm was making preliminary investigations into the viability of the proposed class action and the cause of the EI outbreak.

"Everyone will probably have to wait until the outcome of the Federal Government inquiry before any concrete steps can be taken. Its early days yet and people are still suffering losses as we speak. These losses probably won't crystallise until well into next year. Obviously people involved in different areas of the industry will suffer different kinds of losses with different timeframes. For example, a racehorse trainer or owner with horses locked down at Randwick will be completely different to a stallion owner in Victoria who has a stallion at Eastern Creek. There is now some relief for stallion owners and breeders with the "purple zone" protocols but there are still a lot of people hurting out there".

Mr Garrett said that he knew exactly what people are going through - he himself is a commercial breeder and has 4 broodmares stranded on his own broodmare farm in Queensland. He also has 3 racehorses in work in Brisbane but these are also affected by the restrictions.

"I know exactly what people are going through given my own involvement in the industry. This gives me a great insight into the problems that the people in the thoroughbred industry are facing".

Mr Garrett urged everyone who had suffered loss to register with his firm as part of the class action.

"Obviously the more people we have to represent in the class action, the stronger voice we will carry to the Government".

Mr Garrett is hopeful of having a strong presence for the pending inquiry.

"Hopefully there will be a positive finding from the inquiry and this will convince the Government to set up a proper compensation scheme for all of those affected by this disaster. If this doesn't happen, there will probably be a long drawn out Court battle".

Anyone interested in registering their interest in the class action go to http://www.attmar.com.au/index.php/ei/ or telephone Attwood Marshall hotline on 1800 621 071 or email info@attwoodmarshall.com.au.