Face of Nation : Clive Palmer’s defence team wants the Queensland Nickel collapse trial thrown out amid a dispute over the remaining claims against the billionaire businessman. The self-represented mining magnate wasn’t in court on Monday for the restart of the multimillion-dollar lawsuit brought by two sets of liquidators following the Townsville refinery’s 2016 collapse.
It was left up to lead lawyer for Mr Palmer’s companies, Chris Ward SC to apply for the permanent stay in proceedings, saying the claims had largely devolved into a fee-seeking exercise.
“In circumstances where the only real beneficiary is the liquidator’s funders … with the primary goal of obtaining a commercial benefit,” Dr Ward said.
“It is grossly unfair and disproportionate.” A lawyer for one of the liquidators, Shane Doyle, disagreed with the request, saying it was normal practice for liquidators to use funders and seek payment. The only way these proceedings are possible when a liquidator doesn’t have funds to work with is to enter into a funding agreement, he said.
“Yes, people make money out of funding litigation because without such things liquidators would be unable to … investigate the affairs of companies.” Mr Doyle said the liquidators’ fees are about $10.1 million.
The opposing legal teams also locked horns over the remaining claims to be heard in the Brisbane Supreme Court trial after Mr Palmer agreed to a massive settlement earlier in the month. The court heard liquidators may have fresh creditor claims to submit, prompting Dr Ward to question why the defence team had not been made aware earlier.
He also drew Justice Debra Mullins’ attention to the amended claim document following the recent settlements, which, he said, still contained allegations that Mr Palmer acted as a shadow director of QN even though this claim had been withdrawn.
The trial restarted on Monday with Justice Mullins expressing her frustration with Mr Palmer’s replacement expert insolvency witness and a proposed six-month preparation time.
It follows Mr Palmer’s failed attempt to postpone the trial on day one when his original expert witness pulled out due to illness. Justice Mullins rejected that proposal but agreed to delay hearing evidence related to QN allegedly trading insolvently until later in the trial so Mr Palmer could find a new expert.
Her rebuke on Monday over the proposed six-month timeline follows a series of tongue-lashings earlier in the trial over Mr Palmer’s tardiness finding the replacement.
