Defamation case against Mayor Hill settled out of court

CLIVE Palmer has ended a defamation lawsuit against Townsville Mayor Jenny Hill after lawyers for the pair reached an agreement yesterday morning.

While details of the settlement were not revealed in court, it’s understood the mayor will be forced to pay the mining magnate $ 50,000 as part of the out- of- court deal.

Mr Palmer launched the suit in Brisbane Supreme Court earlier this year, alleging Cr Hill had made false and defamatory comments about him in a Courier- Mail article about the collapse of Queensland Nickel published in January.

In February, Mr Palmer’s lawyers, in a legal notice of intention to claim damages, allege the comments included: “Here we’ve got a multi- millionaire and failed federal MP who has destroyed the lives of 900 people and nearly ruined our community.’’

The legal letter also claims she stated: “He ripped the guts out of Queensland Nickel, left his workers out of pocket and out of a job, and has not paid millions of dollars owed.’’

It said the statements intimated Mr Palmer “benefited from the loss of employees” and he was “consequently a criminal”.

During a brief appearance in the Brisbane Supreme Court yesterday, lawyers for Clive Palmer claimed a settlement had not been reached between the parties, despite sending a letter to Cr Hill’s lawyers earlier this year accepting an offer.

Justice Peter Applegarth questioned why an offer appeared to have been accepted by Mr Palmer’s lawyers before later being rejected.

Lawyers then came to an agreement outside of court with both agreeing to pay their own costs and discontinue the legal action.

A Townsville City Council spokesman said the Mayor was pleased an agreement had been reached.