Banking royal commissioner Kenneth Hayne has recommended at least two unnamed entities face criminal charges for dishonest conduct connected to their fees for no service practices, an offence that carries a maximum penalty of 10 years’ jail or a hefty fine, or both.
Deloitte is challenging a judge’s ruling that certain partners not be excused from an order to produce files of the accounting giant’s audit work for Hastie Group to shareholders in a class action over the construction company’s collapse, its latest move after a failed attempt to persuade the judge that a rogue partner had taken the only copies of the files and refused to give them back.
Two barristers suing DLA Piper over $370,000 in fees did not perform all the work for which they billed the law firm, a court heard Monday.
Class action experts have come to the defence of boutique law firm Phi Finney McDonald as heavyweight Maurice Blackburn appeals a judge’s ruling to choose the “less experienced” firm to lead a shareholder class action against BHP Billiton.
An unprecedented joint-sitting of two appeals courts will this week hear a constitutional challenge to the power of judges to make so-called common fund orders, a challenge that could have significant ramifications for class actions even if they don’t fall foul of the ‘vibe of the thing’.
Logistics startup GetSwift has confirmed it will fight an appeal to the High Court by law firm Squire Patton Boggs challenging a landmark ruling that permanently stayed two of three competing shareholder class actions against the company.
Businesses and other class action defendants have paid in excess of $4 billion in settlements since the class action regime was introduced in Australia, and litigation funders have pocketed about $583 million, a new report reveals.
Businessman Clive Palmer has successfully registered the United Australia Party name with the corporate regulator in what appears to be a settlement of his trade mark infringment suit against the expelled directors of another political party who had adopted the coveted moniker two years ago.
We Buy Houses’ director Rick Otton has withdrawn his appeal of a ruling that slugged him with a $6 million fine for misleading property investors, the highest ever penalty imposed on an individual for breaches of the Australian Consumer Law.
AIG Australia has appealed a decision that found it’s liable for covering four former directors being sued by collapsed Kaboko Mining after a failure to repay a US$5.95 million loan allegedly led to the company’s insolvency.