IOOF subsidiary Australian Executor Trustees has been hit with an $80.6 million judgment after breaching its duty as trustee in the sale of a 42,000 hectare timber plantation by collapsed forestry giant Gunns Group, and it can’t pass the liability on to Spark Helmore, despite the law firm’s inadequate advice.
A group of Sydney commercial landlords whose properties were compulsorily acquired for the WestConnex project have lost an appeal seeking $56.5 million in compensation, after the Valuer-General offered them just over half that amount.
The competition watchdog has given Canadian dairy producer Saputo the green light to acquire Australian competitor Lion Dairy’s cheese processing plants, but has warned any further consolidation in the Tasmanian dairy sector would cause significant concern.
Fifteen former Macquarie Bank financial advisers are looking to expand their $2.6 million wages case against the bank, seeking evidence around allegedly unreasonable and unlawful deductions from their commissions.
Lawyers for former Citigroup executive Stephen Roberts have complained that prosecutors have failed to provide a “shred of material” to explain his alleged involvement in a criminal cartel relating to ANZ’s $2.5 billion capital raising, as the defendants fight to grill Crown witnesses before trial.
Explosives maker Dyno Nobel has reached a mid-trial settlement in its case against its major rival, Orica, over a patent for a method for blasting rock at open cut mines.
Retail chain Sunglass Hut has agreed to backpay 620 workers almost $2.3 million after admitting it underpaid its part-time staff in stores across Australia for six years.
The liquidators of failed Gold Coast investment group Octaviar have been given the thumbs up to reject over $900 million in proofs of debt from two of the firm’s subsidiaries after the Queensland Supreme Court ruled they had received competent legal advice on the matter and were justified in the rejections.
The special purpose liquidator appointed to four companies in the collapsed James Estate Wines group has been given the go-ahead by a judge to enter into a litigation funding arrangement with the conglomerate’s former director and pursue $57.1 million in potential claims against ANZ Banking Group.
Dairy giant Fonterra has lost its bid to stop Vitasoy from registering its slogan ‘Growing Milk Since 1940’ as a trade mark, after unsuccessfully arguing that consumers would be misled by the lack of animal milk in Vitasoy’s soy and almond milk products.