Multi-million dollar Black Tuesday bushfire lawsuit against CFS to continue after negotiations fail Eyre Peninsula grazier Robert Proude with wife Latisha and daughter Zoe. Fires on the Eyre Peninsula. 'Black Tuesday' from The Advertiser 12 Jan 2005 metro edition p1. EXTENSIVE negotiations have failed to resolve the multi-million dollar class action lawsuit against the CFS over the devastating Black Tuesday bushfires, a court has heard. A group of Eyre Peninsula graziers, led by Robert Proude, is suing the volunteer organisation and Marco Visic, the man whose vehicle started the blaze, for compensation. The 2005 fires killed nine people, burned 77,000ha and destroyed 93 homes. Mr Proude subsequently filed Supreme Court action against Mr Visic and the CFS, claiming the total value of his destroyed property, including 2205 sheep, was $1,862,795. In December, other graziers were granted permission to join the lawsuit as a class action - together, they claimed the CFS mismanaged its response to the fires. Mr Visic filed papers agreeing with that assertion, saying any compensation should come out of CFS coffers and not his wallet. In June, the CFS asked the court to throw out the case , saying the fires were beyond anyone's capacity to control. It claimed it and its volunteers were therefore not liable for the damage caused. In July, Justice Malcolm Blue dismissed that application, saying the question of whether the CFS owed a duty of care to bushfire victims was too complex to be answered outside of a full trial. Since then, the parties have met behind closed doors in an attempt to settle the matter without a trial. The Advertiser understands attempts were made late last Friday and again early this morning. Today, lawyers for the graziers told the court that "no aspect of the matter" had been resolved through those meetings. They asked a planned hearing be postponed to allow for the filing of further evidentiary materials. Justice Blue adjourned the case until next week.