MinRes, Ellison face lawsuit by former worker

Mineral Resources has rubbished a lawsuit against the miner, boss Chris Ellison and its high-profile lawyers by a former employee, labelling the allegations retaliation for his sacking earlier this year.

Sydney-based Harmers lawyers, who are representing former procurement manager Steven Pigozzo, lodged the action in the federal court just after midday.

Bennett + Co lawyers, MinRes, Mr Ellison and the founder of its infrastructure subsidiary Robert "Bob" Gavranich are all named as parties to the action.

The legal action comes just 48 hours after failed peace talks prompted the Ellison-led company to sue Mr Pigozzo over allegations he collected secret commissions and misused the mining giant’s confidential information.

In that statement of claim, MinRes says Mr Pigozzo breached his duties to act in good faith and not place himself in a situation where there would be a conflict of interest.

MinRes alleges Mr Pigozzo earned secret profits while working for the company and failed to exercise the loyalty he agreed to under the terms of his employment contract.

Further, the mining giant claims Mr Pigozzo breached his duty not to misuse its confidential information and wants damages for the alleged breaches of contract, as well as compensation and  orders for its alleged losses to be accounted for.

Mr Pigozzo flagged the possibility of launching his own legal action on Monday, denying the allegations and voicing his intention to file a counterclaim.

He alleged the legal action was retaliation for two actions he claimed he pursued against the company with the Fair Work Commission.

A spokesperson for Mineral Resources told Business News the company was not surprised by the lawsuit it said was launched in “retaliation” and intended to file an immediate application to have several parts of the claim struck out.

“Many of the unsubstantiated and highly defamatory comments by Pigozzo in his statement of claim are entirely baseless,” the spokesperson said.

“Mineral Resources is confident in its legal position and looks forward to the Federal Court process running its course.”

Documents obtained by Business News indicate the two parties attempted to resolve the dispute privately through mediation, which was facilitated by Justice Rene Le Miere earlier this month.

MinRes covered the cost of the mediator and the venue hire. 

But when the two parties failed to reach a resolution, MinRes terminated the private mediation and its legal advisers at Bennett & Co took the matter to the Federal Court.