In an “ode to a dying corporation” a Western Australia judge known for his droll judgments has waxed poetic in approving the end of a quarter century of litigation over the collapse of Alan Bond’s Bell Group of companies, penning what he described in mock solemnity as “more of a requiem than a judgment”.
The corporate regulator has brought action against Allianz Australia alleging the insurer misled consumers who purhased travel insurance on Expedia websites by failing to disclose how premiums were calculated and selling policies to ineligible customers.
ASIC’s case against GetSwift and its founders Joel Macdonald and Bane Hunter makes accusations against both directors but relies on alleged conduct by only Hunter, a lawyer for Macdonald has told a court on the last day of trial in the corporate regulator’s case.
Payday lenders Cigno and BHF Solutions are facing enforcement action by the corporate regulator alleging they breached the credit laws by lending to hundreds of thousands of consumers with a licence and charging $78 million in fees.
A judge has scrapped a proposed video link sought by Slater and Gordon to be included in an opt out notice to group members in a class action over alleged junk insurance sold by Westpac, saying the video had the “flavour” of promoting the proceeding.
A law firm that negotiated a $2.4 million settlement for Melbourne’s Barfly’s in a negligence suit against the Bourke Street cafe’s former solicitors is now in litigation itself against Barflys over unpaid fees, but a bid by the firm for the cafe to hand over $745,000 to the court in trust has fallen flat.
Former Leighton Holdings chief financial officer Peter Gregg has won his appeal of convictions last year over an alleged sham contract with a steel supplier, with an appeals court on Wednesday saying there had been a “substantial miscarriage of justice”.
The judge overseeing a settled class action against Murray Goulburn, which earned millions of dollars for the same legal team accused of serious misconduct in the running of the Banksia class action, invited the parties last month to reopen the case, concerned he had been misled when approving the lawyers’ costs.
The Australian arm of global winemaker Accolade Wines has filed Federal Court proceedings opposing three trade mark applications by the children of a South Australian wine producing couple that sold Grant Burge Wines to Accolade more than five years ago.
Women’s fashion designer Pinnacle Runway must pay indemnity costs for pursuing what a judge has described as an “ill-advised” trade mark infringement lawsuit against a rival that “cried out to be settled”.