Lawyer Mark Elliott was the “puppet master” behind the Banksia class action, retaning an old school mate to represent the lead applicant but in reality funding and running the proceedings with barristers Norman O’Bryan SC and Michael Symons to line their pockets at the expense of group members, a court has been told.
Tile maker Ceramiche Caesar has prevailed in its challenge to a judge’s ruling allowing building products manufacturer Caesarstone to register two trade marks despite a finding that they were deceptively similar to one of its marks.
The funder and legal team behind a class action over the collapse of Banksia Securities billed for phantom costs in a “fraudulent scheme” to secure almost $20 million from the case, the contradictor investigating the purported misconduct has told a court.
A court has granted ASIC’s bid to wind up an illegal managed investment scheme whose operators fled to India following the “systematic misappropriation” of almost $7 million in investor funds.
Telstra has filed a lawsuit accusing Singtel Optus of breaching the Australia Consumer Law through ads that claim it is “covering more of Australia than ever before”.
A lawsuit by iSignthis seeking over $27 million in damages from the ASX has been sent back for revision, after a judge found the fintech had failed to causally link how a report by the exchange led to lost contracts with five clients.
Westpac anti-money laundering compliance troubles continue to worsen, with the bank reporting an additional 365,000 incomplete or inaccurate threshold transaction reports to AUSTRAC.
A lawyer who argued his conduct towards a paralegal was not sexual harassment but a display of ardent affection akin to ‘Mr Darcy’ in ‘Pride and Prejudice’ has lost his appeal of a $170,000 judgment against him, with the Full Federal Court saying the case was “as far from a Jane Austen novel as it is possible to be”.
Facing accusations of being a “litigation bounty hunter”, litigation funder Augusta Ventures has made its bid before the Full Federal Court to overturn a landmark ruling which put it on the hook for $3.1 million in security in two Fair Work class actions.
The litigation funder behind the class action over Banksia Securities’ collapse has admitted it misled a costs consultant retained to report to the court on the reasonableness of the fees in the case, but says its commission should not take a hit as a result because the misconduct occurred after the litigation settled against Banksia’s trustee for $64 million.