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The New Zealand Bar Society is considering an investigation into the payment of $ 3.41 million made to families in the Pike River mine tragedy that was declared illegal by the Supreme Court.
Confirmation of the consideration of a complaint by the Law Society comes just four days after the 10th anniversary of the disaster at the West Coast coal mine, which claimed the lives of 29 men.
After the explosion, WorkSafe believed it had sufficient evidence to prosecute 12 charges against the mine manager, Peter Whittall. But the charges were dropped in 2013 and WorkSafe said it was due to public interest considerations.
Whittall indicated that he would fight the charges and offered to make a voluntary payment of $ 3.41 million provided by his insurer if WorkSafe did not proceed against him.
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WorkSafe finally agreed.
However, the Supreme Court ruled in 2017 that the settlement, which allowed Whittall to escape the charges, was an illegal deal, because the suggested settlement prevented prosecution.
Iain McGregor / Stuff
Peter Whittall avoiding charges with a settlement that saw him pay $ 3.41 million to the families of the Pike River mine victims.
Anna Osborne, whose husband Milton was killed in the blast, previously called Whittall’s payment “blood money.”
The New Zealand Law Society is now considering a complaint that points to two attorneys involved in the $ 3.41 million settlement.
The law society said they are considering a complaint after receiving correspondence from former attorney Christopher Harder, questioning the lack of action regarding two attorneys involved in the “illegal” settlement: Stuart Grieve QC, who was Whittall’s attorney, and Brent Stanaway, who was a lawyer for the crown at the time.
Harder said the two attorneys have “discredited the legal profession” by entering into the “illegal” agreement, which was “stifling a prosecution by deliberately misleading and misleading the sentencing judge (DC Jane Farish).”
ROBERT KITCHEN / Things
Anna Osborne speaking at the Pike River mine disaster 10th anniversary event. She thought that Whittall’s payment to the families was “blood money.”
Harder does not wish to be considered a whistleblower or party to the complaint, but he described himself to the law society as “a messenger.” He felt that the law society should have started the investigation without his correspondence.
He said Things: “I hope that the fact that the law society is finally considering this illegal deal to crack down on WorkSafe prosecutions gives the families of the deceased miners here a bit of reassurance and a little hope that there is still some justice to come. “
He declined to comment further.
In a letter sent to Harder on November 23, 2020, NZ Law Society National Grievance Manager Nikki De La Mare said her concerns would be referred to a Standards Committee “to consider initiating an initiative investigation. own “.
Iain McGregor / Stuff
29 men were killed in the 2010 Pike River mine explosion.
A spokeswoman for the law society said the law prevented her from commenting on whether the society had received a complaint.
The spokeswoman said that when a complaint is received, the Standards Committee can investigate the complaint, give direction for negotiation and mediation, or decide not to take any action.
The 2017 Supreme Court case was started in 2014 by two murdered families of miners: Anna Osborne and Sonya Rockhouse. They requested a judicial review of WorkSafe’s decision not to prosecute.
They also asked the Supreme Court to reverse an Appeals Court ruling that upheld WorkSafe NZ’s decision in 2013 to drop the charges against Whittall as long as it paid the $ 3.41 million.
At the time of the Supreme Court ruling, Rockhouse said the decision was the end of “checkbook justice.”
