Two units of global insurer Lloyd’s have launched a constitutional challenge to a Federal Court order requiring accounting firm Pitcher Partners to hand over certain insurance documents in two shareholder class actions.
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.
Crown Resorts has been given the greenlight to challenge a court order allowing former employees to talk to lawyers for a class action over its business in China, but the class has another chance to make its case that the ruling should stand.
The third judge assigned to oversee a lawsuit filed against law firm Norton Rose Fulbright by a former partner has refused to recuse himself on the grounds of apprehended bias, despite being accused of behaviour that was âgrossly disrespectfulâ, âabsurdly obtuseâ and âfundamentally lacking in logicâ.
Engineering firm WorleyParsons has told the Federal Court it will press forward with a no case application in an attempt to shut down a shareholder class action against it.
The Federal Court has partially struck out publisher Pan Macmillan Australia’s defence in a defamation case brought by Sydney identity Thomas Domican over a “fleeting reference” in a book by nightclub magnate John Ibrahim.
One month after Japanese shipping company K-Line was hit with a $34.5 million fine for cartel conduct, Norwegian shipping firm Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean AS has said it will plead guilty to one charge of criminal cartel conduct for its role in the same scheme.
Actor Geoffrey Rush has come up short in his bid for an injunction blocking The Daily Telegraph from repeating allegations in the successful defamation case he brought against the publisher, with a judge citing the public interest in free speech and the lack of foundation for the actor’s concerns.
Concerns about duplicative costs in multiple class actions are better addressed by case management decisions aimed at cutting excessive expense, not by limiting the amount lawyers representing group members can spend, the Full Federal Court has said in dismissing an appeal by baby food maker Bellamy’s.
Former Plutus Payroll general manager Joshua Kitson has been sentenced to at least three years in jail for his role in a conspiracy to defraud $105 million from the Australian Taxation Office.