Wilderness Society and Gunns Ltd reach settlement
Tuesday June 23, 2009
The Wilderness Society will receive $325,000 from Gunns Limited after a case that has spent four years in the Victorian Supreme Court. The contentious litigation has taken years to process with the initial proceedings commenced by Gunns who tried to sue the Wilderness Society for $3.5 million.
Outcomes of the case include the $325,000 payment from Gunns to Wilderness Society, Gunns discontinues its case against The Wilderness Society and its (former) officers, Gunns are to release The Wilderness Society from liability from all actions in any version of the statement of claim while The Wilderness Society has been ordered to pay Gunns $25,000 for damages from a protest in the Styx Valley November 2003.
The case commenced back in 2004 when Gunns Limited started a multi-million dollar civil lawsuit against the Wilderness Society, officers of the NGO and its members of its conservation movement, citing disrupted activities and economic loss due to protests against the new Gunns Ltd mill.
The personal injury lawsuit has been dismissed three times already with the fourth now resulting in Gunns paying Wilderness Society in a settlement.
This has been a particularly unusual case under personal injury law due to the very fact that the plaintiff has actually reached an out of court settlement with the defendants, and agreed to pay them compensation.
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