TIMBER company Gunns is demanding $500,000 in legal costs from The Wilderness Society over a failed court case, an amount the not-for-profit organisation says will be difficult to pay.
The Australian has learned that Gunns is seeking $504,000 in costs from TWS following the conservation group’s unsuccessful challenge to the federal approval process for its Tamar Valley pulp mill.
TWS campaign co-ordinator Virginia Young would not say whether the incorporated body would be able to pay the bill. “It will be very onerous for the organisation,” she said.
Ms Young argued that the “inflated” bill, which may be reduced during negotiation, was a “perfect illustration” of the need for protective cost orders in public-interest litigation.
The federal government is considering a plan to protect litigants, in cases judged to be in the public interest, from cost orders if they lose.
Business groups have warned that the reforms, outlined in the government’s Access to Justice report, would open the floodgates to speculative litigation, potentially bankrupting companies found to have acted legally.
While Gunns is certain to secure some payment from TWS over the failed pulp mill case, launched in the Federal Court in 2007, it appears unlikely to obtain any from the other plaintiff in that case, Investors for the Future of Tasmania.
