A cyclist who was hit byDaniel and Catherine Andrews' SUV has been paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by a law firm he claimed wronged him during negotiations.
Ryan Meulemanwas hit by the vehicle in Blairgowrie, on Melbourne's Mornington Peninsula, in January 2013 when he was just 15-years-old.
The teenager suffered severe internal injuries in the near-fatal collision.
MrMeuleman has since claimedmajor law firm Slater & Gordon, which is aligned with the Labor Party, failed to conduct 'a full and proper investigation into the circumstances' of the crash while negotiating his $80,000 TAC compensation payout.
On Wednesday, the Herald Sunreported MrMeuleman received a confidential out-of-court settlement from the firm worthseveral hundreds of thousands of dollars.
However, his legal battles over the crash are far from over.
MrMeuleman has long maintained Ms Andrews, who claimed to be behind the wheel of the SUV at the time of the crash, was speeding when she hit him.
'I've been telling the truth since I was 15 years old,' Mr Meuleman said.
Ryan Meuleman will be paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by Slater & Gordon in a confidential out-of-court settlement
Ryan Meuleman was hit by the vehicle in Blairgowrie, on Melbourne 's Mornington Peninsula, in January 2013 when he was just 15-years-old (pictured, Mr Meuleman following the crash)
'The people in the car are next.'
Victoria'sformer Assistant Commissioner for Traffic and Operations Dr Raymond Shuey had conducted a review into the crash, which was commissioned by Mr Meulemans' lawyers.
The report, released in 2024, foundthe Andrews' Ford Territory was 'travelling at speed' on the wrong side of the road when it hit MrMeuleman.
It also claimedVictoria Police engaged in 'an overt cover-up to avoid implicating a political figure in a life-threatening' incident, resulting in an investigation that was'deeply flawed', 'unfounded' and 'contrary to the available evidence'.
In a joint statement, the Andrews' took aim at the 'so-called report' in September, citing how it was commissioned by lawyers on Mr Meuleman, who was seeking money through the courts by suing his former lawyers.
'We are not a party to this legal action. We did nothing wrong.This matter has already been comprehensively and independently investigated and closed by Victoria Police and integrity agencies,' they said.
The couple said they would 'not dignify these appalling conspiracy theories by commenting further'.
The Andrews were served with concerns notices over their comments in January. Their case is separate to the Slater & Gordon matter.
Mr Meuleman was he was hit by an SUV belonging to former Victoria Premier Dan Andrews and his wife Catherine (pictured) while cycling in Victoria in 2013
Mr Meuleman's father, Peter, is hopeful 'the truth will now come out in the lawsuits'.
'My son has been called a liar since he was a teenager. Can you imagine what that does to a boy?' he said.
'Damning evidence has been covered up and ignored for a decade. It was always there to find.'
The incident involving the former premier and his wife has been swirling about for more than a decade.
Mr and Mrs Andrews were forced to comment on the incident a second time in November after audio was published by the Herald Sun of the former Premier at the scene of the crash.
Making a Triple Zero call, Mr Andrews told an emergency services operator: 'We've hit him.'
'We've turned right into Ridley Street and a kid's come flying through on the bike path and we've hit him,' he said.
'He's a teenager... I'd say he'd be... he'd be 15.'
Mr Meuleman (pictured) was severely injured during the incident, witha punctured lung, broken ribs, a ruptured spleen and internal bleeding
When emergency services arrived at the scene, Mrs Andrews was not breath tested.
Mr Andrews also told police in a statement less than a month after the crash: 'I want to make it clear - the cyclist hit our vehicle.'
Following the accident, Mr Meuleman was airlifted to The Royal Children's Hospital with life-threatening injuries, including a punctured lung, broken ribs, a ruptured spleen and internal bleeding.
Mr Andrews has always insisted his wife came to a 'complete stop' and 'turned right from a stationary position' moments before the teenager T-boned the Ford Territory.
In his 36-page assessment of the investigation Dr Shuey found the evidence did not back Mr and Mrs Andrews' account of what happened.
Police closed the case without pressing charges, and officers were later cleared of any wrongdoing by the corruption watchdog over failing to breath test the driver.
