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A judge has struck out an allegation by the builder of Sydney’s Opal Tower that insurer Liberty Mutual breached its duty of good faith and has warned Icon to carefully consider whether to re-plead the claim.
The builder of Sydney’s troubled Opal Tower has brought a claim for indemnity against insurer Liberty Mutual, which has already agreed to pay out $22.5 million, claiming it is owed a total of $12.5 million for its costs in defending a class action by residents.
Lloyd's has won access to letters between Moray & Agnew and an insurer to test its claims that a $3.7 million settlement the law firm agreed to over the sale of apartments at a $105 million South Yarra complex developed by millionaire Harry Stamoulis was excessive and made to protect the firm's reputation.
Two former barristers ordered to pay at least $21.7 million in damages and costs for their role in a fraudulent scheme to pocket a windfall from the Banksia Securities class action have filed for bankruptcy.
The Banksia Securities class action saga will return to the appeals court, with a lawyer indicating he plans to challenge last month's ruling that found he knowingly assisted in a plot to defraud tens of thousands of investors in the collapsed lender.
Last week’s judgment denouncing the scandalous behaviour of the legal team running the Banksia Securities class action cast a spotlight on the conduct of lawyers for some of the defendants, asking whether “untenable” defences were maintained beyond an acceptable point in the case.
The solicitor behind the successful challenge to the claim for ill-gotten spoils by the Banksia Securities class action legal team says he draws little comfort from the conclusion by the judge who strongly condemned the misconduct that the legal system is capable of regulating itself. More needs to be done to root out the systemic causes of the arrogance on display in the case, he says.
Lawyers running the scandal-ridden Banksia class action have been struck from the roll of practitioners, will face criminal investigation and must pay group members $11.7 million in damages.
It has been described as the darkest chapter in Victoria's legal history, an exemplar of all that is terrible with class actions in Australia. A case of greedy lawyers who found their golden egg in a group of retirees who had lost their life savings, never thinking the chickens might come home to roost. Until now.
The Full Federal Court has found that Liberty Mutual Insurance, but not QBE, is required to cover Icon Construction's losses stemming from the Opal Tower disaster, which has caused the builder $31 million in losses.