Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance advises Griffin Coal on successful settlement of A$3.5 billion compensation claim in Western Australia

Perth: International law firm Clifford Chance has advised Australia's Griffin Coal on the successful A$7.5 million settlement of a claim by Perdaman Chemicals that originally sought compensation ofA$3.5 billion.

Griffin Coal is a unit of India's Lanco Infratech Ltd. Perdaman filed the lawsuit against Lanco in 2011 in the Supreme Court of Western Australia, seeking compensation for breach of a coal supply agreement.

As part of the settlement, Lanco has agreed to pay Perdaman A$7.5 million plus legal costs without admission of any of the allegations made by Perdaman.

"We are delighted that two years of hard work by our team with our clients at Griffin and Lanco has resulted in this practical settlement," said partner Ben Luscombe who led the Clifford Chance team advising the clients.

"It allows our clients to move on to build their business in Western Australia, and follows another recent success for the company – where Clifford Chance advised Griffin Coal on the re-negotiation of its long-term coal supply agreements for the Bluewaters Power Stations and the formation of new security arrangements over its Western Australian mining assets."

Ben was assisted primarily by counsel Nathan Landis and associate Gabrielle Holly, as well as counsel Pat Saraceni and senior associates Rosslyn Warren, Sean Houthuysen and Angelina Gomez.