The Australian Securities and Investments Commission is challenging the dismissal of its enforcement action against National Australia Bank contractor Whitebox Trading and sole director Johannes Boshoff, which accused them of market manipulation that resulted in a spike in the price of securities on the ASX-200 index in October 2012.
Celebrity gardener Don Burke has prevailed in a defamation action brought by one of his accusers, journalist Wendy Dent, over comments he made during a TV interview, with a judge saying his “less than compelling” responses and the interviewer’s skepticism gave rise to “real doubts” about his credibility.
Slater & Gordon has struck back against allegations by a former senior solicitor that he was fired after making complaints about the law firm’s arrangement with a third-party funder for personal injury clients, denying any unethical practices and arguing the lawyer’s termination was part of a cost-cutting restructure.
A court has approved a settlement between the liquidators of failed fund manager Equititrust and auditor KPMG, after not a single objection was raised by unitholders or creditors who won’t receive anything after the entire amount is paid to the funder.
The funder backing the IAG add-on insurance class action has agreed to a fixed 25 per cent commission, after the plaintiff copped criticism from a judge for the largely redacted funding agreement which called for lower rates if the case settled by a certain date.
A judge has told the lead plaintiff in a class action over allegedly excessive legal fees to get their “house in order”, amid complaints by the Queensland compensation law firm at the centre of the dispute that the litigation is “costing them a fortune”.
Colourful Sydney barrister Charles Waterstreet is seeking an urgent hearing to lift an “emergency” suspension imposed by the NSW Bar Association to allow him to continue working on a malicious prosecution case brought by a solicitor who was accused, and acquitted, of sexual assault by a client.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is appealing the dismissal of its case over Pactific National’s purchase of Aurizon’s Acacia Ridge Terminal in Queensland, challenging the Federal Court’s power to accept Pacific National’s last-minute promise to ensure access to the major freight terminal by competitors.
A self-described “vigilant lawyer against big companies” has attempted to make submissions regarding the costs incurred in the Sirtex shareholder class action settlement, with legal fees and funders’ commissions chewing up half of the $40 million settlement figure. Maurice Blackburn took the lead after two shareholder class actions relating to the biotech company’s revised sales…
Malaysia Airlines has reached a settlement with five Australian families whose loved ones were killed when flight MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine by a Russian missile five years ago.