Mark Costello

A judge has refused an application by the Federal Government to appeal the expansion of the Robodebt class action pleadings despite finding the case was “troubling”, “weak” and in certain aspects “[made] no sense whatsoever”.

Lawyer Alex Elliott was complicit in a plan by his late father to mislead the court and group members in the Banksia class action, to conceal conflicts of interest and to profit from the case at the expense of debenture holders, a judge has been told.

A judge has slammed the parties in the Robodebt class action for sparring over the pleadings, one week after the class was given leave to add a claim for exemplary damages and allege knowledge of the program’s unlawfulness on the part of several government officials and federal minister Alan Tudge.

A judge has given the green light for the applicants in the Robodebt class action to file an amended statement of claim on the eve of trial that adds a claim for exemplary damages and drags five government employees into the proceedings.

A judge has stopped short of rejecting new claims in the Robodebt class action despite “obvious errors” in the allegations, but has sent the applicants back to the drawing board and warned them the matter would not proceed as a “dog’s breakfast”.

An independent costs consultant retained to assess the legal fees sought to be recouped from a settlement in a class action over the collapse of Banksia Securities has denied he was the “dogsbody” of funder Mark Elliott during a fiery cross examination at trial over the costs of the litigation.

A week after silk Norman O’Bryan dropped his defence against allegations of misconduct in the running of a class action over the failure of Banksia Securities, his junior counsel, Michael Symons, has also conceded defeat, telling a court he too should be struck off the practitioners’ roll. 

Barrister Norman O’Bryan has accepted that he should be struck from the roll of legal practitioners after dropping his defence mid-trial against claims of professional misconduct as senior counsel for a class action financed by the late Mark Elliott, but the consequences for the once high-flying silk might not end there.

Receivers appointed in the wake of the collapse of Banksia Securities may seek costs orders against the estate of deceased funder and class action lawyer Mark Elliott, a court has heard. Meanwhile, the Victorian Bar says it has “every confidence in the judicial process” after senior counsel Norman O’Bryan yesterday abandoned his defence of misconduct allegations stemming from the case.

Barrister Norman O’Bryan SC has abandoned his defence of misconduct allegations stemming from the Banksia Securities class action and expressed contrition to the court for his actions.