Barrister Norman O’Bryan SC has failed in his last-ditch bid to reopen his defence in the Banksia class action to submit evidence he says shows he did not retain an interest in the litigation funder behind the case.
The judge overseeing the trial alleging fraud on the part of barristers and the funder behind a class action over Banksia Securities will be asked to award at least $32 million to the failed property lender’s 16,000 debenture holders for the serious misconduct alleged against the lawyers.
A legal battle in the Federal Court between Freedom Foods and Blue Diamond Growers over an almond milk licensing deal has been stayed so the parties can arbitrate their dispute in California, where the Australian Consumer Law will apply.
The judge overseeing two class actions over legal and accounting advice given ahead of Slater & Gordon’s disastrous Quindell acquisition has said he will hear the cases together, citing the “dangers” of the approach taken in litigation against GetSwift, which resulted in a judge being ordered to step down.
Law firm Herbert Smith Freehills has attacked a lawsuit brought by a group of lenders against collapsed steel giant Arrium, rejecting claims that $430 million in loans was borrowed under misleading or deceptive representations.
A judge has found the lead applicant and funder in a discontinued class action against Pitcher Partners over its auditing of Slater & Gordon must pay the bill for the flurry of cross-claims brought in the proceeding, but has rejecting the accounting firm’s argument that its costs should be paid on an indemnity basis.
The former group treasurer of collapsed steel giant Arrium has hit back at claims brought by the company’s liquidators that it was trading while insolvent, arguing the case had been ‘infected’ by evidence from an expert who was also a plaintiff in the case.
Doomed iron and steel giant Arrium attempted to stave off its inevitable $2.8 billion collapse and put off negotiating with its lenders until the last minute despite warnings from its legal and financial advisors, liquidators for the company told the court.
Directors of steel producer Arrium continued to borrow money from “vulnerable” lenders in the months prior to the company’s $2.8 billion collapse and “bled cash” despite the inevitable end, a number of lenders have said on the first day of a 40-day trial in the NSW Supreme Court.
Professionsal services giant EY has added to the many cross-claims flying in the shareholder class action against Pitcher Partners over advice to law firm Slater & Gordon, and has alleged the accounting firm engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct and negligence and that it breached its retainer.