Wild Accusations. BHP has even its own evidence muzzled by Court
BHP even moved to suppress its own evidence in its defense against coal miner Simon Turner. Michael West It’s the latest bizarre development in the court battle between David and Goliath.
Mining giant BHP Group Limited sought to suppress parts of the Federal Court hearing transcript in a lawsuit brought by a former coal miner who broke his back at one of its mining sites and is now seeking damages.
The application relates to a case brought by self-represented plaintiff Simon Turner, who appeared in the Federal Court of Australia on Thursday, facing a group of barristers and barristers acting on behalf of BHP, labor hire company Chandler Macleod and Coal LSL.
Although the hearing took place in open court, BHP and its related entities (BHP Mt Arthur Coal Pty Ltd and Hunter Valley Energy Coal Pty Ltd) sought to redact parts of the record, relying on interim restraining orders already in force.
blindfold too
Turner, for his part, cannot afford to pay for the transcripts of his own hearings because the Court’s transcription service has been outsourced to a foreign multinational corporation, which charges $1,952.53 for access to the transcripts heard in open court last Thursday.
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BHP and its affiliates and their lawyers also applied for a confidentiality and non-publication order over a number of court documents, including Turner’s main application and affidavit, an interlocutory application filed by BHP respondents, an affidavit from their lawyer Trent Forno of Minter Ellison, and an outline of submissions or evidence given by the parties or any access applicants in relation to the blocking application.
In submissions to the court last December, the BHP defendants argued that allowing documents to be released before entering a plea could distort the public’s understanding of the trial.
“Wrong” but we can’t tell you why
They argued that because Turner’s initial application alleged unlawful conduct, including bad faith, concealment of terms of employment, and “false, misleading and unlawful” actions, the publication would “give the misleading impression that the claim could be properly asserted and the documents could be reported without the filing of a Defense by each of the defendants.”
A separate order was also made prohibiting the publication of the affidavit of Chandler Macleod’s lawyer, Michael Russell.
Turner defied the orders, citing open justice principles and arguing that some material was already in the public domain, including on Hansard.
In an email, the Court stated that the Registrar had determined that it would be appropriate to withhold portions of the transcript due to the temporary suppression order.
“In response to the parties’ responses, and in order to preserve the Court’s process (i.e. to ensure that it does not breach the Registry’s temporary closure order), the Registrar has determined that it is appropriate for a particular portion of the record to not be made available at this point,” the email said. The statement was included.
The court noted that after the blocking application is finally decided, access to the minutes may be re-evaluated upon a new request.
Suppression orders continue
In December the court made interim orders under section 37AI of the Federal Court of Australia Act, allowing the documents to remain secret until the suppression application was determined.
Under section 37AF of the Act, the court may order the broadcast to be stopped or not to be broadcast where this is necessary to prevent prejudice to the proper administration of justice.
The onus probably falls on BHP to determine why the principle of open justice should be blocked and how to meet this high threshold.
The judge reserved his decision on whether to grant the broader confidentiality orders requested by BHP. According to the Federal Court’s website, the court has a goal of issuing decisions within three months of separation.
What are they hiding?
Simon Turner previously launched a class action lawsuit over what he claimed was $2 billion in wage theft by BHP and its labor hiring partners.
Turner had previously told MWM that the matter was not heard in court due to events involving his lawyers, whose expenses were paid by BHP.
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Regarding the suppression of documents in Turner’s case this week, the Court Registrar said that “once a final decision has been reached on the application for suppression, the issue of access to the transcript may be revisited by submitting a new request”.
Parties requesting transcript editing
- BHP GROUP LIMITED (ABN 49 004 028 077)
- BHP MT ARTHUR COAL PTY LTD (ABN 83 000 181 902)
- HUNTER VALLEY ENERGY COAL PTY LTD (ABN 54 088 288 037)
David versus Goliath. BHP against a coal miner. Epic court battle under suppression orders
Michael West was founded Michael West Media Focusing on public interest journalism in 2016, particularly the increasing power of corporations over democracy. West was previously a journalist and editor for Fairfax newspapers, a columnist for News Corp and was even once a stockbroker.
