Wright family's $25m saga continues
Western Australia's highest court is set to hear the next legal episode in the real-life soap opera of Olivia Mead, and her claim for $25 million of her late father's mining fortune.
Orders officially awarding Ms Mead the massive legacy from the estate of her late father Michael Wright were made today, with the estate of the son of Wright Prospecting founder ordered to hand over $25 million by May 14.
But lawyers for the executor of Mr Wright's will were scheduled to immediately lodge an appeal against that award, which will bring on a second courtroom battle between the opposing sides.
The lawyers for David Lemon, who was left in charge of distributing the estimated $750 million estate, will now apply for a stay, which if granted will mean the payment date will be pushed out.
WA's Supreme Court heard today that the Court of Appeal was then likely to hear the arguments for and against the payment to Miss Mead, the largest of its kind ever awarded in Australia.
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The grounds of the Wright estate's appeal will not be revealed for some weeks.
After sparking lurid headlines following her opulent list of demands including a crystal studded grand piano, the most expensive bass guitar in the world and an axolotl, Ms Mead had the last laugh when Master Craig Sanderson agreed with her argument that a $3 million trust was not a fair award.
The PR student again appealed for her privacy last week, as she continues to prepare for life as a multi-millionaire, having been raised by her single mother Elizabeth - who was briefly Mr Wright's lover in the mid 1990s.
