Ardent Leisure has settled a shareholder class motion lawsuit following the deaths of 4 vacationers at its Dreamworld theme park.
The case was filed in June 2020 to recoup the losses of people that purchased shares within the firm within the two years earlier than the tragedy on the Thunder River Rapids Ride on October 25, 2016.
The lawsuit by about 300 shareholders alleged Ardent misled buyers concerning the security measures in place earlier than the accident that killed Cindy Low, Kate Goodchild, her brother Luke Dorsett and his associate Roozi Araghi.
A hunch in customer numbers on the Gold Coast theme park following the accident led to Ardent writing down its Dreamworld operations and posting a $50 million loss in February 2017.
“The settlement (which is subject to court approval) involves an all-inclusive payment of $26 million to the applicants and is on the basis that there is no admission of liability,” Arden mentioned in an announcement to the ASX on Thursday.
The firm would incur a one-off value of about $4 million in reference to the settlement and the stability of the settlement cost was totally insured, the corporate mentioned.
Ardent mentioned the category motion had been going for 3 years and the choice to settle was made in one of the best pursuits of shareholders.
An inquest in 2020 discovered Dreamworld offered itself as a contemporary, world-class theme park, however its “frighteningly unsophisticated” security procedures had been “rudimentary at best”.
The settlement is the corporate’s newest multimillion-dollar payout over the tragedy.
Ardent was fined $3.6 million – the most important ever imposed in Queensland for a office accident – after pleading responsible to security prices.
The Brisbane Supreme Court in December ordered Ardent to pay Ms Low’s husband and two youngsters $2.1 million.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
