On Friday, the New South Wales Court of Appeal rejected Rinehart’s application to have the dispute over the Hope Margaret Hancock trust kept out of the public eye.
Lawyers for Rinehart and her daughter Ginia, who has sided with her mother in the fight, argued the dispute was commercial in nature and should be referred to confidential arbitration or mediation as stated under the deed.
According to a report in the The Australian, Chief Justice Tom Bathurst also ordered Rinehart to pay all legal costs.
“I have concluded that the respondents’ claim was not a dispute under the settlement deed, that the settlement deed did not have the effect of barring any claim for removal of the trustee and that the other defences, although arising under the settlement deed, did not necessarily bar a claim from the removal [Gina Rinehart] as trustee,” the judgment said.
Last month, Rinehart lost her bid to have the High Court hear an appeal against a New South Wales Supreme Court decision to allow publication of details of the dispute.
Rinehart, which has a net worth estimated at around $A18 billion, has been fighting to keep details of the family feud out of the public arena since her three eldest children – Hope Rinehart Welker, John Langley Hancock and Bianca Hope Rinehart – started legal proceedings in September last year in a bid to have her dumped as trustee of the multi-billion dollar family trust.
This story first appeared on ILN's sister publication MiningNews.net.
