The former group treasurer of collapsed steel giant Arrium has hit back at claims brought by the company’s liquidators that it was trading while insolvent, arguing the case had been ‘infected’ by evidence from an expert who was also a plaintiff in the case.
Doomed iron and steel giant Arrium attempted to stave off its inevitable $2.8 billion collapse and put off negotiating with its lenders until the last minute despite warnings from its legal and financial advisors, liquidators for the company told the court.
A financial adviser at the centre of ASIC’s bad advice case against an IOOF unit might mount an argument that a fair trial is not possible because of his “fulsome” answers to investigators during a compulsory examination.
Directors of steel producer Arrium continued to borrow money from “vulnerable” lenders in the months prior to the company’s $2.8 billion collapse and “bled cash” despite the inevitable end, a number of lenders have said on the first day of a 40-day trial in the NSW Supreme Court.
ASIC’s warning about the futility of mediation with an IOOF subsidiary has proved prophetic, with talks last week failing to resolve the regulator’s case ahead of trial starting Monday.
IT giant Hewlett-Packard Australia has lost its appeal of a judgment requiring it to cough up $370,000 in unpaid commissions to a former sales executive after a court found the company was not entitled to retrospectively cap her incentive payments ‘at whim’.
A judge has allowed a unit of recruitment firm Tandem to file cross-claims against individual group members in an underpayment class action, in a rare move that may spark important changes in representative proceedings.
A judge has ordered ASIC to enter mediation before heading into a “very expensive” trial with an IOOF subsidiary accused of giving shonky advice, over objections from the regulator that mediation would be “completely futile”.
A class action has been filed against the trustee and responsible entity of the Mayfair Group’s IPO Wealth Fund, which was wound up in September after $86 million of investor funds were lost.
A unit of telecommunications contractor Tandem has lost an appeal in its fight over the validity of a sham contracting class action by technicians alleging they were misclassified as contractors and wrongly denied benefits.