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.
Dick Smith’s former CFO will appeal a $43 million judgment in favour of National Australia Bank over his role in the retailer’s collapse.
IOOF unit RI Advice has lost its bid to strike out ASIC’s novel case claiming it failed to protect its clients against cybersecurity risks, but a judge has chastised the regulator for causing “needless confusion” and “wasted time”.
Westpac will serve court documents, including a motion for contempt, on Forum founder Bill Papas by text message after securing a Greek mobile number for the absent accused fraudster, as the judge overseeing the bank’s case pulled up Papas’ former lawyer for treating his courtroom like a “suburban golf club”.
The Commonwealth Bank has resolved a case brought by former head of governance and company secretary Kara Nicholls, who resigned from the bank on Tuesday as part of a settlement of her claims that the governance team was overworked and under-staffed.
A judge has told a Colonial First State Investments unit to provide information about its financial position to the lead applicant in a class action and criticised the company for failing to disclose that it had transferred its liabilities after the class action was launched.
AMP has flagged a potential stay of a lawsuit filed by a Sydney-based financial planner against that overlaps with a class action brought by advisors alleging they suffered financial losses from changes in the company’s buyer of last resort policy.
Westpac wants Forum Finance founder Bill Papas held in contempt of court, but the bank has hit a snag in serving its motion on the missing Papas, saying he dropped his lawyers without telling them the address of his current residence in Greece.
Financial services provider AMP has hit back at ASIC’s civil penalty action alleging it charged super members fees for no service, saying it was not involved in its licensees’ contraventions.
A $78 million class action against National Australia Bank and Walton Construction seeking compensation for sub-contractors after the company’s collapse has halted as lawyers scramble to comply with the managed investment scheme requirements for funded class actions implemented by the Morrison government.