An appeals court has upheld a ruling that found two firms previously run by Joseph “Diamond Joe” Gutnik and his family were insolvent, ending a long-running battle over hundreds of millions of dollars in mining assets.
A judge overseeing a settled class action against failed Banksia Securities has rejected an application to limit a contradictor’s investigation of alleged professional misconduct on the part of the legal team and funder behind the case, saying he was satisfied there was a proper basis for the allegations.
A judge has removed the funder and law firm leading the Banksia Securities class action from their roles supervising a proposed settlement distribution scheme after the funder was accused of intimidation, a lack of experience and charging excessive costs.
The applicants in a class action against Navra Group have dropped their case after group members settled their claims in a separate proceeding with the defunct financial planner’s liquidators.
An appeals court has ordered a phosphate mining company owned by mining magnate Joseph Gutnik to pay back more than $225,000 owed to the Queensland state government or face immediate liquidation, accusing the company of showing a “cavalier attitude” towards earlier orders made by the court.
An appeals court has dashed the hopes of three group members of a resolved class action over managed investment schemes operated by agribusiness Great Southern Group who sought more time to appeal approval of the settlement deed, which put them on the hook for repaying their loans to Bendigo and Adelaide Bank.
Last year was an exciting one for class action lawyers, with monumental court decisions on competing cases, cross-jurisdictional spats, proportionality in settlements and the power of judges to decide how a recovery is distributed. Here, top class action litigators tell us what the most significant rulings of 2018 were and why the decisions will continue to matter this year.
The lead applicant in a class action over the failure of Banksia Securities is on the hook for paying the legal costs of a class member who successfully challenged the funder’s cut of a $64 million settlement in the case.
A judge refused Tuesday to step down from two cases brought by Bendigo and Adelaide Bank seeking to claw back loans from group members in a settled class action over Great Southern Group’s managed investment schemes, saying no apprehension of bias could arise.
Two group members of a resolved class action over managed investment schemes operated by agribusiness Great Southern Group are bound by the settlement deed to repay loans they took out with the Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, despite the severe constraints the settlement placed on individual defences, a judge has ruled.