The litigation funding company controlled by the late solicitor Mark Elliott has told a court of its “remorse and regret” for its misconduct in the Banksia Securities class action, a case that has been described as the “darkest chapter in Victoria’s legal history”.
The son of Banksia class action funder Mark Elliott was no Michael Corleone of the Godfather, and was not knowingly complicit in an alleged scheme masterminded by his father to defraud group members and destroy evidence, his lawyer has told a court.
Barrister Norman O’Bryan SC has failed in his last-ditch bid to reopen his defence in the Banksia class action to submit evidence he says shows he did not retain an interest in the litigation funder behind the case.
The judge overseeing the trial alleging fraud on the part of barristers and the funder behind a class action over Banksia Securities will be asked to award at least $32 million to the failed property lender’s 16,000 debenture holders for the serious misconduct alleged against the lawyers.
Attorney-General Christian Porter has filed defamation proceedings in the Federal Court against the ABC and journalist Louise Milligan over an online article he says made false allegations against him.
A judge has slugged the CEO of a Sydney property development company with a $32,500 penalty for underpaying a live-in nanny, but he aimed his wrath at the media for having “wrongly branded” the businessman as someone who engaged in modern slavery.
A judge overseeing a class action against Bayer-owned Monsanto over its allegedly carcinogenic weedkiller, Roundup, has declined to rule on the admissibility of expert evidence in a hearing ahead of trial next year, despite concerns about the independence of the expert witnesses for the class.
MinterEllison has appointed Sydney-based partner Virginia Briggs as acting chief executive officer after the board asked CEO Annette Kimmitt to leave over her controversial staff email about the firm’s work for Attorney-General Christian Porter.
Lawyers and experts welcomed the High Court’s ruling Wednesday, which approved a class action beauty parade approach to dealing with competing proceedings and provided guidance as to how judges might otherwise manage the problem of duplicative cases. Here, Lawyerly outlines the important things to take away from the majority’s judgment.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has declared Attorney-General Christian Porter an innocent man under our law” and has no plans to remove him from his post as top law officer or seek the advice of the country’s second law officer.