Judges

Perth-based Farooq Khan has lost a key case in the battle for control over investment firm Keybridge Capital, after a judge invalidated a board decision to suspend activist investor Nicholas Bolton as CEO and terminate chair John Patton on the basis of Khan’s breach of his directors’ duties.

Awaiting a Full Court ruling in a case involving similar claims of privilege against self-incrimination by partners at another accounting giant, the judge in a consolidated class action against PricewaterhouseCoopers over its auditing of the failed Vocation has vacated the February trial date.

Counsel for a class action against Arnold Bloch Leibler alleging negligence over advice to Slater & Gordon has criticised the law firm’s barrister for seeking more time to file a possible dismissal application because he was “only briefed yesterday”, saying the excuse had become an all too frequent one.

Two petitioners challenging the election of Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and embattled Liberal MP Gladys Liu have subpoenaed the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Sky News for interview footage in front of the Chinese language posters at the heart of the dispute.

Two former Dick Smith directors targeted by dual class actions have expanded their case against Deloitte over the retailer’s 2016 collapse, saying if the company was found liable for shareholder losses then the auditor should be blamed for its shoddy work on the company’s financial statements during its float three years earlier.

Internet provider TPG says it has been “vindicated” by a judge’s decision to throw out the consumer watchdog’s case over allegedly unfair contract terms that allowed the telco to keep millions of dollars of customer’s unused prepaid funds.

Motorola has slammed competitor Hytera for its “spectacularly poor” handling of expert evidence in a high stakes intellectual property dispute between the two tech giants, arguing the pre-trial timetable should not be upended on account of the Chinese radio maker’s “pig-headed” insistence on using unavailable witnesses.

The litigation funder bankrolling a new class action against Toyota over allegedly faulty filters in its diesel models is looking to earn a step-up commission of between 20 and 30 percent of any recovery in the case.

Hong Kong-based UDP was entitled to $25 million from its insurers after losing more than $30 million from its disastrous acquisition of dairy conglomerate 5 Star Foods, which had been secretly overcharging one of its biggest customers, food giant Lion Nathan Group.

The plaintiffs in a farming class action brought against Advanta Seeds over allegedly contaminated sorghum have been denied access to the defendant’s insurance policy documents, after a judge found “significant differences” with a recently successful application in a class action against Radio Rentals.