The prefab concrete company dragged into a class action over the ill-fated Opal Tower has launched its own legal volley against the engineering consultant behind the building design.
A court has ruled that a litigation funder backing an unsuccessful real estate lawsuit by two broke plaintiffs must cover the legal costs after finding that the funder’s goals in the case were “more to serve its own commercial and financial ends” than to assist its clients.
Atanaskovic Hartnell has mostly come up short in a court battle for over $172,000 in legal fees, with a judge finding the law firm was in a “manifest position of conflict” in its dispute with two media companies defrauded by one of its former lawyers, Brody Clarke.
An Ashurst partner is at risk of being evicted from his Point Piper home after allegedly refusing to pay a $150,000 special levy.
Construction giant Icon has filed a cross-claim against the prefab concrete company behind the ill-fated Opal Tower, seeking to recover at least part of almost $28 million in losses spent after cracks in the building caused residents to evacuate in 2018.
Activist short seller Bonitas Research must pay Rural Funds Management almost $900,000 after the US-based Bonitas was found to have engaged in misleading or decpetive conduct in issuing a report describing the agricultural fund manager’s equity as “ultimately worthless”.
A subsidiary of BHP Billiton can’t get its hands on underwriting documents in its case against Lloyd’s of London and Berkley Insurance, which are being sued by the mining giant for over $36 million after allegedly substandard equipment was installed at its Olympic Dam Mine.
Agricultural fund management firm Rural Funds Management is seeking over $625,000 in damages from US short seller Bonitas Research, which was found by the NSW Supreme Court to have engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct in a report describing RFM’s equity as “ultimately worthless” that sent the firm’s share price plummeting.
A judge overseeing a shareholder class action against collapsed engineering group RCR Tomlinson has said goodbye to the common fund order in the case while welcoming last year’s High Court decision preventing these orders from being made at the early stage in class actions.
The lead applicants in seven class actions against auto manufacturers over explosive Takata airbags have criticised the courts for losing their way in ensuring justice is done, in a landmark challenge to class closure orders made in the cases.