MinRes, Ellison push to suppress Pigozzo claim

Chris Ellison’s lawyer has made another push to suppress updated claims in a new document recently lodged by former Mineral Resources contracts manager Steven Pigozzo.

Steven Penglis, barrister for Mr Ellison and MinRes, today sought Federal Court orders to suppress the contents of an updated statement of claim filed by Mr Pigozzo on Tuesday.

Federal Court judge Michael Feutrill today ordered the updated statement of claim to be removed from the case file, with a non-publication order over the contents of the document.

Mr Penglis said it beggared belief that the Federal Court accepted the amended document when Mr Pigozzo did not obtain leave to update his statement of claim, and that the court registry allowed a third party to obtain said document.

The updated statement of claim was filed to the Federal Court’s WA registry yesterday and was shortly obtained by a journalist at The West Australian, according to Mr Penglis.

“The foundation is a third party has a document they shouldn’t have. It should be removed from the court file,” he said in court today.

“There are serious allegations of defamatory matter to the first and second defendants [MinRes and Mr Ellison]."

Mr Penglis also sought non-publication orders for documents yet to be filed and an injunction to prevent Mr Pigozzo from sending the document to publishers himself.

Justice Feutrill agreed that Mr Pigozzo did not have leave to amend his statement of claim but denied the requests for suppression orders or an injunction.

“An injunction, at least for today, is off the table,” he said.

Speaking to the court today, Mr Penglis foreshadowed a strike out application once the amended statement of claim was properly filed.

“Your honour dealt with existing document but not documents to be filed,” he said to Justice Feutrill.

Justice Feutrill also ordered the associated parties to try to resolve issues before they come to court, noting the amount of interlocutory issues to arise with the matter.

The matter has been listed for another Federal Court hearing in July.

Mr Ellison, MinRes, and Mr Pigozzo have been in legal feuds for more than a year, with lawsuits filed in the Federal Court and the Supreme Court of Western Australia.

MinRes filed a Federal Court action against Mr Pigozzo on May 30 last year, with the latter filing a separate action against the company a couple of days after.

In a Supreme Court hearing last month, Mr Ellison, represented by law firm Bennett, alleged a media release and Mr Pigozzo's statement of claim contained defamatory imputations against him.

Mr Ellison alleged the documents were leaked to media outlets on the same day that Mr Pigozzo filed his Federal Court action, before the document was officially sealed by the court and prior to Justice Feutrill granting a non-publication order.