Two former executives of mining giant Rio Tinto accused by ASIC of breaching their directors duties have asked the court to vacate an upcoming trial, after raising concerns that COVID-19 could affect their ability to appear.
A judge has slapped National Australia Bank with a $15 million penalty over its scandal-ridden home loan introducer program but slammed ASIC’s investigation into the program, saying there was no “real regulatory desire to pursue a thorough investigation as to what in truth occurred”.
A seven-week trial in ASIC’s misleading conduct case against Rio Tinto may have to be postponed after two executives of the mining giant raised concerns that COVID-19 could impact their ability to appear as defendants in the case.
ASIC has called for a $15 million penalty against National Australia Bank over its scandal-ridden ‘Introducer’ loan referral program, but a judge has questioned the “superficial” investigations in the case and remarked on the corporate regulator’s “pattern” of bringing enforcement action after remediation programs were well underway.
Elderly victims of Ponzi schemer Bradley Sherwin have told the government’s class action inquiry of their “horrendous class action journey”, which led to a “pathetic outcome” in which the majority of a $12 million settlement with the Bank of Queensland went to the law firm and funder behind the case.
Atanaskovic Hartnell has mostly come up short in a court battle for over $172,000 in legal fees, with a judge finding the law firm was in a “manifest position of conflict” in its dispute with two media companies defrauded by one of its former lawyers, Brody Clarke.
The settlement sum in three class actions against law firms that allegedly gave negligent advice about property investments in the now-defunct Ralan Group has been suppressed, after the court heard there was a risk of future claims being brought.
A court has dismissed a claim by the Australian Government for $325 million against pharmaceutical companies Sanofi and Bristol-Myers Squibb allegedly owed for excess subsidies it paid for blood-thinner Plavix as a result of an interlocutory injunction blocking a generic version of the blockbuster drug.
A judge has granted a request by Otsuka and Bristol-Myers Squibbs to withdraw admissions in proceedings brought by Generic Health seeking damages, after the generic drug maker was temporarily blocked from selling a generic version of antipsychotic Abilify in a patent dispute in which it ultimately triumphed.
A judge overseeing a shareholder class action against collapsed engineering group RCR Tomlinson has said goodbye to the common fund order in the case while welcoming last year’s High Court decision preventing these orders from being made at the early stage in class actions.