Bravus spends more than $1.1m and counting on legal battle with ecowarrior Ben Pennings

Mining giant Bravus has spent more than $1.1m on lawyers to sue an ecowarrior it accuses of intimidating contractors, a court has heard, as both sides continue to “willingly” rack up more and more costs.

Mining giant Bravus has spent $1.1m on lawyers to sue an ecowarrior it accuses of intimidating and inducing mining contractors working on building their central Queensland mine and rail link to pull out, a court has heard.

In his decision handed down on March 28, Supreme Court Justice Paul Freeburn described the nearly five-year progress of the civil lawsuit to trial as protracted and said both sides are “mired in the trenches of interlocutory warfare”.

Bravus Mining and Resources, formerly Adani Mining, has sued former Brisbane lord mayoral candidate Ben Pennings, claiming he has conspired to injure the company by lawful and unlawful means; intimidated the company, induced breaches of contract and plans to interfere in Bravus’s contractual relations in the future.

A claim of receipt and misuse of confidential information in relation to the work on the Carmichael mine near Clermont in central Queensland was dropped in 2023, the decision states.

Last year another judge overseeing the progress of the case, Justice Susan Brown, struck out the claims of intimidation and conspiracy but gave Bravus the green light to replead these claims.

Justice Brown stated in this decision that Mr Pennings was involved in the Galilee Blockade with other environmentalists to try and stop Bravus and Carmichael Rail developing the Carmichael coal mine and rail network linking the mine to the existing rail network.

Justice Brown last year said as part of the ongoing litigation, Bravus had made a legal costs claim for $1.1 million - which only covered less than two days of hearings.

Ben Pennings outside Brisbane Supreme Court. Picture: NewsWire / John Gass

That action involved Bravus workers and its contractors working on the mine or rail.

The Galilee Blockade ran two campaigns the “infiltration campaign” and the “Dob In Campaign” through their website and social media, the court heard.

The Galilee Blockade encouraged people to get jobs with Bravus to get confidential information about the company and rail line to give to the blockade to help to pressure mine contractors to withdraw from their contracts in a bid to “frustrate the development” of the mine or rail line.

The “Dob In Campaign” involved the Galilee Blockade asking for confidential Bravus information to be given to them by the public.

The biggest blow to Bravus came in December 2017 when key contractor Downer EDI pulled out of a $2.6b deal to build and operate the mine after blockades of dozens of Downer sites around the country including its city offices.

Downer’s exit was brutal on Bravus, causing the capital cost of its coal production per ton to skyrocket by at least 15 per cent after it was forced to scale down the Carmichael mine output from 30 million tonnes per annum to 10 million tonnes per annum, court documents state.

“The parties are mired in the trenches of interlocutory warfare and that, whilst the parties are more than willing combatants, the case is making no real progress towards a trial,” Justice Freeburn noted in his decision.

“The litigation has consumed large slabs of the parties’ resources and the court’s resources,” he said, referring to the $1.1m Bravus told the court it spent on lawyers until 2024, with more legal fees racked up since then.

Ben Pennings celebrating in December after a judge struck out several paragraphs of Bravus’s statement of claim against him. Picture: NewsWire / John Gass

Last year, Justice Brown, described the legal fees spent by Bravus as a “startling amount”.

Mr Pennings, who is described in the pleadings as the spokesperson, or one of the spokespersons, for the Galilee Blockade, has previously told the media that he has raised “a million dollars” from the public to fight the case.

The claim was filed on September 4, 2020 and relates to events that occurred between 2015 and 2020.

In September 2020, the court banned Mr Pennings from continuing with the “Dob in Adani” campaign and an infiltration campaign which urged workers to leak sensitive details on construction plans to green protesters.

After Mr Pennings’ legal team attacked their pleadings, Bravus has been forced to file updated versions, with the miner recently filing their fourth version.

Mr Pennings also previously asked the court to permanently stay the proceedings as an “abuse of process” but this was refused.

Justice Freeburn has ordered Mr Pennings to file a further amended defence by April 28, and for Bravus to file a reply by May 16.

The case is set to return to court on May 31 for a review. No trial date has been set.