IAN PLIMER, the Melbourne geologist facing financial ruin after losing a
court battle with a creationist, has decided to continue his legal fight.
On 20 June, Plimer鈥檚 lawyers lodged on appeal against a ruling that cleared
Allen Roberts, a creationist based in Sydney, of breaching Australia鈥檚 fair
trading laws.
Plimer alleged that literature and tapes describing a geological formation in
Turkey that was claimed to be the remains of Noah鈥檚 Ark were 鈥渕isleading and
deceptive鈥�. In the Federal Court in Sydney, Justice Ronald Sackville ruled that
some claims made in the material, including the statement that Roberts had
conducted scientific tests at the site, were false. But he decided that Roberts
was not involved in commerce, and was therefore exempt from fair trading laws
(This Week, 7 June, p 7).
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Plimer will now have to convince a panel of three judges, sitting in the
Federal Court, that Roberts was engaged in commercial activity.