Activist happy as claims struck out of Adani legal saga
By Fraser Barton
A multinational mining company expects proceedings against an activist to go to trial even after he claimed a courtroom “win”.
Activist Ben Pennings said he was up dry-retching throughout the night but walked out of the Brisbane Supreme Court a happy man after a judge struck out a number of allegations against him in a legal stoush with Adani.
Pennings has been in a legal battle with the mining giant for 4½ years over allegations he disrupted operations of its Carmichael coal mine in Queensland.
Pennings celebrates the win with other activists in Brisbane.
Adani, which operates in Australia as Bravus, first sued Pennings in 2020 alleging he had sought to disrupt the operations of the coalmine, its suppliers and contractors and that the company suffered financial loss as a result.
The company is a subsidiary of the Indian conglomerate headed by Gautam Adani.
Pennings had been seeking orders permanently staying or striking out the proceedings as an abuse of process, due to Adani abandoning one of their primary claims based upon alleged receipt and misuse of confidential information by Pennings.
His legal team had also sought a stay or striking out over “shifting contentions” on issues of causations and alleged loss which are said to demonstrate the “fragile factual foundation upon which they are based”.
Counsel representing Pennings indicated Justice Susan Brown on Friday struck out allegations including that he and others conspired to cause Adani economic harm and undertake unlawful acts against Adani.
Penning’s legal team indicated the judge also struck out claims Adani suffered millions of dollars in damages because of the Galilee Blockade’s “intimidation”, and that contractors and employees were induced to breach their contracts with Adani.
The activist addressed supporters bearing anti-Adani signs and T-shirts outside court before speaking to media, saying he is pleased with the result.
Ben Pennings with daughter Isabella and other activists outside the court in Brisbane.
“I’ve come out of court a very, very happy man,” he said.
“The case against me is not over completely but a vast majority of the allegations against me have been struck out by the Supreme Court.”
Pennings said he and supporters have always argued that the allegations struck out by the judge were “spurious and anti-democratic”.
“I’ve been up since 2.30 this morning, dry retching, guts going, it’s a horrible process to go through,” he said.
“I’ve got a lot of faith that the strength of this judgment will lead Adani to either drop the case or to try settle it, or hopefully just do the reasonable thing and let it all go.”
Adani now has 28 days to appeal the judgment and file and serve a second further amended statement of claim by February 14, 2025.
In a statement, a Bravus Mining and Resources spokesperson said they welcome the court’s decision in rejecting Pennings’ application to have their civil legal proceedings against him thrown out of court.
“We brought these civil proceedings against Pennings in 2020 to enforce our rights and allow employees and contractors of our Carmichael mine near Clermont in central Queensland to carry out legal and legitimate business activities free from intimidation and harassment,” they said.
Pennings had applied to the court to have the case struck out, according to the company spokesperson, and for the lifting of an injunction that prevents him from “threatening our contractors and employees”.
“Justice Brown rejected both applications and the injunction remains in place,” the spokesperson said.
“Mr Pennings has been either wholly unsuccessful or largely unsuccessful at every stage of the civil legal proceedings since they began. The matter is expected to go to trial in 2025.”
AAP