The Queensland Supreme Court has shot down an “entirely speculative” bid by two Clive Palmer-owned companies to access information held by two law firms and a litigation funder, as the mining magnate mulls a lawsuit for potential breaches of a settlement reached in the Queensland Nickel liquidation proceedings.
A judge has refused to recuse himself from a stoush between litigation funder Vannin Capital and Clive Palmer’s companies over the appointment of a barrister in a claim springing from the long-running Queensland Nickel liquidation case.
Clive Palmer and his company Mineralogy have survived a High Court challenge by Hong-Kong based CITIC to a ruling that put it on the hook for at least $224 million in unpaid royalties from producton at the Sino Iro mine, but a related $297 million suit by Palmer against the Chinese conglomerate has flopped.
A Federal Court judge has transferred a case brought against Clive Palmer and his firm Mineralogy to the Western Australian Supreme Court, where a number of suits are pending in what has been described as “litigious warfare” over the $5.8 billion Sino Iron Ore project.