Clive Palmer drops defamation case against FFA arbitrator

CLIVE Palmer is abandoning his costly bid to sue an independent Football Federation Australia arbitrator for $10 million.

CLIVE Palmer is throwing in the towel and abandoning his costly Supreme Court bid to sue an independent Football Federation Australia arbitrator for $10 million over a judgment that highlighted "dishonourable" conduct by the resources tycoon and federal MP.

The Australian has seen legal documents showing the leader of the Palmer United Party wants to walk away from the defamation action, which could have led to the testing of evidence about a mysterious reputed break-in at the offices of his company Mineralogy.

Mr Palmer has accused The Australian of being involved in the break-in.

A legal letter obtained yesterday shows that Mr Palmer, who has claimed he has been to court 68 times and never lost, has advised the Queensland Supreme Court as well as the defendants that he "does not want to proceed any further".

Before formally confirming in the legal correspondence that he would abandon the case, Mr Palmer wanted his lawyers at Brisbane firm HopgoodGanim to seek the removal of Queensland Supreme Court judge Roslyn Atkinson, sources revealed.

Mr Palmer now faces the prospect of being asked to pay significant costs of the independent arbitrator, Sydney silk Shaun McCarthy, as well as the publishers of the Gold Coast Bulletin newspaper.

Justice Atkinson is due to hear the matter again on Monday, when Mr Palmer is to give his maiden speech in parliament, but the member for the Sunshine Coast seat of Fairfax is seeking to have the case taken off the list.

The legal costs for FFA, supporting Mr McCarthy, and the newspaper publisher amount to tens of thousands of dollars and it is understood they want to pursue Mr Palmer to pay their costs. Mr McCarthy said yesterday: "I understand Mr Palmer has indicated to the court he does not intend to continue with his $10m defamation proceedings against me. I welcome this development."

Mr Palmer launched the action after Mr McCarthy held hearings of the National Dispute Resolution Chamber and ruled that the Gold Coast United club, which Mr Palmer controlled at the time, "acted dishonourably" and its actions were "particularly egregious" in breaching the contract of a player, Peter Perchtold.

After being lured from a German league with a two-year contract, Perchtold was stripped of his entitlements and sent an email by the club manager that said: "Clive has decided that he doesn't want to commit to more than one year and that includes everyone, includes me and you. No exceptions! I know you have a contract for two years and legally you are right, but however, I am trying to . . . prevent a situation that Clive will say: 'Tell him to take me to court.' "

Mr McCarthy said in his judgment that "Clive" was "presumably Clive Palmer, the owner of the club", and ruled: "The club, or specifically the person responsible for this decision, clearly acted dishonourably, showing utter contempt for the principles underpinning the law of contract. Notions of fairness appear to have played no part in the decision-making process of the club. This appears to be a case of the club attempting to bully the player into compromising his clear legal rights and entitlements.

"It seems to me that the club sought to exploit the perceived vulnerability of the player by flexing its superior bargaining muscle in the hope that the player's inferior financial position would influence him to bow to the club's unconscionable pressure."

Mr McCarthy awarded Perchtold $340,000 in damages for breach of contract; however, he has not been paid. Mr Palmer did not respond to requests for comment yesterday.

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court was told that Mr Palmer, then a prime ministerial aspirant, had failed to meet legal deadlines for his defamation action due to a "break-in" at the Brisbane offices of Mineralogy, in May and the alleged theft of computer files.

His solicitor, Liam Prescott, said the break-in and theft of computer equipment contributed to Mr Palmer not knowing he was required to attend court. Mr Palmer has accused The Australian of being involved in the break-in.

Mr Palmer abandoned another defamation action earlier this month against federal MP Mal Brough, who holds the neighbouring seat of Fisher for the Liberal National Party. The Australian is being sued for almost $1m.