David Thomas

Suncorp subsidiary AAI has asked a court to order soft class closure in a group proceeding over allegedly worthless insurance, saying it was “passing strange” that over 200,000 group members “don’t know they’re even group members” three years into the case. 

A former Atanaskovic Hartnell client is seeking special leave to challenge a judgment from the NSW Court of Appeal that found self-represented law firms can recover costs for work done by their own solicitors, urging the High Court to intervene to clarify a judgment eliminating the so-called Chorley exception.

The NSW Court of Appeal has issued a judgment contradicting a finding from its Victorian counterpart, ruling that law firm Atanaskovic Hartnell can recover costs for work done by its own solicitors in a lawsuit against a former client in which the firm represented itself.

Nuix had information in January 2021 which undermined the growth story presented to the market in the prospectus for its IPO, a court has heard on the first day of ASIC’s case against the tech company and a handful of former directors.

EFTPOS provider Tyro has won a year-long injunction against an authorised representative that pushed competing payment system Lightspeed on its customers, in breach of a restraint of trade clause in their contract.

NAB unit NULIS Nominees was not only allowed to charge superannuation fund members fees for adviser commissions, it was “obliged” to do so, a court has heard during a class action trial over alleged conflicted remuneration. 

NAB unit NULIS Nominees was “hopelessly conflicted” in continuing to charge allegedly unlawful adviser commissions to superannuation fund members, a court has heard on the first day of a class action trial.

The judge who rewarded the law firm with the lowest ever GCO proposal with carriage of an $80 million class action this week noted the competitive forces that shaped a “very good deal for group members,” but competition has its downsides, experts say.

The winning, 14 per cent contingency fee proposal by Slater & Gordon in a fight to run a class action against Star Entertainment was not driven by a desire to prevail in the contest and buy market share but was the product of a “reasoned decision” that took into account the law firm’s practice as a whole, a judge has found.

One law firm has emerged victorious in a four-way contest to run a shareholder class action against Star Entertainment with the lowest proposed group costs order since contingency fees legislation was enacted in Victoria.