judgement day, page-267

"the big question i guess is will heathgate start their defence june 30. the majority here via the metalduster survey say no heathgate defence will be necessary".


I think the likely hood is we will have a trial and wait for judgement before any negotiations start.


One thing that would make parties settle pretrial would be if what each wanted wasnt to far apart, a compromise was obtainable. They might be worried a court decision would not be as good as a deal. Alliance wants 100%, presumably Heathgate wants to keep it at 25%. If its a buy out settlement what ratio to apply? I cant see room for a compromise.

Parties in a negotiation want to be in a position of strength. They will negotiate pretrial if they think the outcome of the trial will reduce this strength. From what I know I dont think Heathgate are worried about court. Also the parties are so far apart in expectations that the risks in trial arent significant.

They need a court settlement to establish ownership they havent been able to do that themselves. The valuing part is probably straight forward.