Matt Wright Federal Court case could take another year before going to trial

In short:

A Federal Court case against celebrity crocodile wrangler Matt Wright could take another year before making it to trial.

The case is being brought by Danielle Wilson, the widow of Chris "Willow" Wilson — Mr Wright's television co-star who was killed in a 2022 chopper crash.

What's next?

Mr Wright has been granted an extra month by Justice Elizabeth Raper to provide the documents requested by a court order.

A lawsuit brought by Danielle Wilson against celebrity crocodile wrangler Matt Wright over the death of her husband could take at least another year before making it to trial, with a judge warning further delays could damage the case.

Ms Wilson is suing Mr Wright, his chopper company and the civil aviation watchdog in the Federal Court over a helicopter accident that killed her husband and the father of her two children, Chris "Willow" Wilson, more than four years ago.

The accident, in February 2022, occurred in an isolated part of the Northern Territory during a crocodile egg-collecting mission, when a helicopter owned by Mr Wright's company Helibrook crashed in dense bushland.

Thirty-four-year-old Mr Wilson — Mr Wright's television co-star — was killed and the pilot, Sebastian Robinson, was seriously injured.

Mr Wright was not flying or travelling in the chopper on the day of the accident.

In late 2023, Ms Wilson launched legal action against Mr Wright and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) over her husband's death, alleging the practices undertaken by Mr Wright's company were unsafe and should not have been permitted.

On Thursday, in the thirteenth case management hearing since the case began, Federal Court Justice Elizabeth Raper emphasised the need for the case to progress.

"[The case] has a very long arc and the court has been trying desperately for years to get it to hearing," she said.

"It's in everyone's best interests to try to get it on as soon as possible."

Mr Wright represented himself at Thursday's hearing via a video link from the NT, and told the court he needed more time to provide documents requested of him by Ms Wilson, CASA and his insurer as part of the proceedings.

Mr Wright was released from jail in May after serving a five-month sentence for attempting to interfere with the crash investigation.

The Netflix star was due to provide the requested documents by the end of the month, but told the court he had been juggling several other legal matters.

"I've got my ass hanging out here at the moment,"Mr Wright said.

Mr Wright also told the court he had recently dropped an appeal to his NT Supreme Court guilty verdict which had been "taking up a lot of time".

Mr Wright was found guilty on two counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice following a month-long trial last year.

After the hearing, in response to questions from the ABC about why he had abandoned the appeal, Mr Wright said multiple court proceedings had been a "massive financial hit".

"We've spent close to a couple of million bucks on these court battles," he said.

Mr Wright was previously represented by a Sydney barrister, Darryn Kelly, but told the ABC the "time, effort and resources" involved in maintaining legal representation was not sustainable.

"It's timely and costly on so many fronts so we've stepped back from it, and we'll do what we can in our own way," he said.

'Justice delayed is justice denied'

At the hearing, Justice Raper extended the deadline for Mr Wright to comply with the court orders by a month, but warned the longer the case dragged on, the harder it would be for all parties to get a just outcome.

"Justice delayed is justice denied, and that includes for you," Justice Raper said.

The barrister representing CASA, Peter Ward, told the court a possible coronial inquest into Mr Wilson's death, which would investigate the cause of the crash, could hinder the progress of the case.

"That may impact on whether this matter is right to go to trial," Mr Ward said.

The NT coroner is yet to confirm whether there will be an inquest into Mr Wilson's death.

Mr Ward also said some of the requests for documents by Ms Wilson's lawyers needed to be narrowed down as they included more than a million documents in their current form.

The court heard a hearing was unlikely to take place until June next year at the earliest and would likely run for three to four weeks, given the number of witnesses expected to give evidence.