Iron ore filing breathes new life into old curse
The heirs to a multibillion-dollar fortune will air their feud in court this week in the latest instalment of the ‘iron ore curse’.
The heirs to a multi-billion-dollar iron ore fortune will air their feud in Western Australia’s Supreme Court this week in the latest instalment of the iron curse that has torn apart wealthy families and lined the pockets of Perth’s legal fraternity.
The legal action launched by Julian Wright against his sister, Angela Bennett, and the estate of his deceased brother, Michael Wright, will involve Julian trying to argue that his siblings defrauded him when they struck a deal over his one-third stake in the family business.
Julian sold his stake in Wright Prospecting, whose assets include royalties for some of Western Australia’s richest iron ore mines, to his siblings in 1987 for $6.8m.
The business today is worth billions of dollars, and Mrs Bennett’s share represents the bulk of her estimated $1.98bn fortune.
The size of the fortune means a successful case by Julian would deliver him one of the biggest civil damages claims in WA history.
The warring siblings’ father, Peter Wright, was the business partner of the original iron ore magnate Lang Hancock. The pair struck their partnership after pegging tenements in WA’s Pilbara in the 1960s.
The upcoming trial should also mean a rare public sighting of the two surviving Wright siblings, both of whom are notoriously private but expected to appear on the stand.
Michael Wright died in 2012, and his stake in Wright Prospecting is now held by two of his children, Alexandra Burt and Leonie Baldock.
Wright Prospecting has flagged from the outset that it intends to fight the matter vigorously, and issued a statement through a spokesman at the weekend reiterating its position.
“Given the nature of the allegations Julian is making, we have been seeking to get this matter heard and the claims tested in court as quickly as possible,” he said.
“As we have said previously, Julian is attempting (retrospectively) to undo binding agreements he appears to now wish he had never entered into.
“He was fully informed when he negotiated and entered into those previous deals (and) was independently advised by experienced lawyers, and he can’t now overturn them by making baseless claims.”
The trial is the latest example of the ongoing legal conflicts that have dogged the families of the men who first identified the mineral riches of the Pilbara, with both the Wright and Hancock families engaged in ongoing rolling legal battles with themselves and each other for decades.
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