The Supreme Court has told the WA Trotting Association it must give racing identity and former board member Duro Margaretic at least seven days’ notice before inking any legally binding sale agreements.
The proposed Gloucester Park redevelopment and Duro Margaretic,inset.Supplied
Margaretic had demanded an injunction to stop the association from going through with the 5.9-hectare land sale until his lawsuit over the credibility of a referendum of members paving the way for the deal could be determined.
But the two parties were forced to compromise in court on Tuesday,amid fears the sweeping order could put the entire $60 million East Perth racecourse revamp at risk.
“The restraint in the terms sought by Mr Margaretic would be restraining the will of the majority of members and we say that is intolerable and there is no basis for it,” the association’s lawyer Alan Hershowitz told the court.
Instead,the association agreed to give Margaretic at least seven days’ notice before signing off on a sale,a safeguard that would afford his legal team a chance to intervene.
Any execution of the land sale deal is still expected to be at least six months away,but the court order has made what would have otherwise been a private process a public one.
Margaretic launched legal action late last year,claiming the referendum to allow members to consider the land sale and planned revamp by Adrian Fini and Ben Lisle’s Hesperia.
The WA Trotting Association said the majority of its membership backed the plan,which included a new 4000-spectator Gloucester Theatre,entertainment and hospitality venues,and several apartment towers.
But the alleged deficiencies in the ballot process were laid bare in court.
Margaretic’s lawyer Brian Lauri pointed to shortfalls in the system which could have allowed some members to vote twice and an alleged lack of balance in the case presented to members,which he claimed was heavily skewed in favour of the proposal.
He also argued members did not have all the information necessary to determine the quality of the deal,claiming the association failed to get an independent land valuation and publish the outcome of a KPMG report into its merits.
But the report is credited with helping to secure $24.7 million in funding from Racing and Wagering WA.
Hershowitz told the court the deal had been years in the making,with experts involved at various stages of the process to reinvigorate the century-old racecourse’s ageing infrastructure.
He said the association had swathes of information confirming the deal was the best way forward and questioned the motives of Margaretic,who resigned from the committee almost one year after being stood down while defending a criminal charge.
“You have a disgruntled former committee member who was stood down over a serious criminal offence,” he told the court.
“He clearly has some other agenda and there is no claim that there is a better proposal.”
WA Trotting Association chief executive Michael Radley toldWAtoday the organisation was confident in the process it undertook and that its membership backed the plan.
The two parties have been ordered to exchange swathes of material ahead of a hearing in March and a two-day trial scheduled for April 26,in which people from both sides are expected to take the stand.