Tom Arup The Age
TASMANIAN logging company Gunns has been ordered to pay $91,000 in legal fees to environmentalists, including Greens leader Bob Brown. Senator Brown, former Tasmanian Greens leader Peg Putt and author Helen Gee were among 16 parties targeted by Gunns for $6.9 million in damages relating to anti-logging campaigns. The case was later thrown out of the Supreme Court of Victoria by Justice Bernard Bongiorno. Gunns has attempted to sue Senator Brown and others twice since without success. The Supreme Court yesterday ordered the Tasmanian company to pay the legal fees for the three in all three cases. Senator Brown yesterday welcomed the decision but said he was still extensively out of pocket. “Gunns are a nasty company that have caused a lot of hurt to patriotic Tasmanians,” he said. Senator Brown called for national laws to ban strategic legal cases designed to stop activists. Read more here
