Events

More than four years after the roof of the Kew Recreation Centre in Melbourne’s east collapsed, builder ADCO has filed a suit seeking millions in damages from the local council, alleging it provided a defective design which made collapse “inevitable”.

Class action settlements hit major milestones last year, with the year’s largest settlements totalling $1.6 billion and one case resolving for a historic $548.5 million.

The owners corporation for an apartment complex in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda has lost its adverse possession claim over a tennis court mostly located on adjoining land, with a judge finding their use of the property was subject to a lease. 

Builder Leda Constructions has lost its bid for injunctions that would prevent the principal in a $4 million building contract from calling on two bank guarantees worth $101,553 each. 

A judge has ordered Australian Unity to pay a $7.1 million penalty in ASIC proceedings alleging it pumped more than $9.5 million into a risky mortgage scheme without properly vetting investors. 

A tribunal has refused to terminate a lease for a dairy farm in Raleigh, NSW and declined to order $500,000 in compensation over claims the tenants are responsible for deterioration in the property, including the “uncontrolled infestation” of a noxious weed. 

A judge has allowed a shareholder class action over the collapse of asset manager Blue Sky to bring insider trading claims against several short sellers, as well as brokers Credit Suisse and Argonaut Securities. 

A MWL financial adviser has been banned for seven years for advising clients to invest most of their super into Keystone's Shield Master Fund, which is suspected of misusing $480 million in investor funds. 

ASIC has questions about the “bona fides” of a rental company’s appeal of a $7.4 million penalty for unlawful loan agreements, telling a court it needs to see evidence about the “very rapid decline” of the company’s financial position.

Macquarie Securities has agreed to pay a $35 million penalty in a civil suit brought by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission alleging systemic misreporting of short sales over a 14-year period.