If disability pensioner Kathy Pope was in any doubt of the Herculean job ahead of her in suing mining billionaire Gina Rinehart over the state of their shared fence, she isn’t any longer.
Pope fronted up to the NSW Supreme Court – virtually – on Thursday for a brief mention of her legal suit against Australia’s richest woman and the 12-kilometre boundary fence that separates their farms on the state’s Northern Tablelands.
It is no equal fight. On the one side is Pope, a vulnerable litigant with no legal representation and situated on her 157-hectare farm in Kingstown, west of Armidale. On the other is Rinehart with an estimated worth of $38 billion, half a dozen lawyers in the courtroom and ownership of some 42,000 hectares of farmland in the district.
The lack of resources at Pope’s disposal was not lost on Justice David Hammerschlag, who warned her she risks having the case dismissed before it even starts if she does not file an appropriate statement of claim within 21 days.
“There’s been a whole lot of material that you’ve sent and nothing in the material I’ve been sent vaguely represents what I would regard as a statement of claim,” said Hammerschlag.
If the half-dozen lawyers representing Rinehart in the courtroom were hoping to claim any kind of victory from it all, they too would have been disappointed.
A bid by Rinehart’s barrister Charles Colquhuon, SC, to have his client and Rinehart’s companies Hancock Prospecting and Hancock Agriculture removed from the proceedings given they do not own the property was promptly rejected.
Likewise, a request by barrister Jocelyn Jaffray on behalf of Rinehart’s Pastoral Properties Pty Ltd to have the matter moved to the equity division’s Real Property List was also rejected, prompting Hammerschlag to quip that such a move might jeopardise his friendship with its presiding judge Ian Pike.
At the heart of the dispute is not only the run-down state of the fence between Pope and Rinehart’s respective farms, but the movement of animals between them.
Pope claims she has lost about 800 animals – cattle, sheep, wild deer, goats and 14 Maremma guardian dogs – over the past seven years due to inadequate fencing.
On Rinehart’s side, there are concerns not only about the movement of animals, but also feral goats and pigs digging under the fence, and the occasional need to treat Pope’s animals for disease.
Rinehart’s office has declined to comment on the stoush, but has disputed Pope’s claims against her.
Complicating matters is a long-standing arrangement between Pope and her other neighbour, Mary Kakaroubas, whereby Pope agists her animals on her 470-hectare farm in exchange for the continued upkeep of fences and trails. Kakaroubas has joined Pope in the proceedings.
Pope was also told she would need to appear in court in person if the matter made it to hearing, and was advised to get legal representation.
“Even with the best will in the world, and with the best case in the world, which I’m not sure you have yet, the brief you’ve provided is just not there,” Hammerschlag said.
Pope said she had contacted more than 45 legal firms in the hope of enlisting legal representation and exhausted all government resources.
“Doesn’t that tell you something?” Hammerschlag said.
“They’ve all said to me I have a case. The reason for not taking the case has more to do with the disparity between the parties,” Pope said.
The matter returns to court on March 5.
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