An independent costs consultant retained to assess the legal fees sought to be recouped from a settlement in a class action over the collapse of Banksia Securities has denied he was the “dogsbody” of funder Mark Elliott during a fiery cross examination at trial over the costs of the litigation.
A week after silk Norman O’Bryan dropped his defence against allegations of misconduct in the running of a class action over the failure of Banksia Securities, his junior counsel, Michael Symons, has also conceded defeat, telling a court he too should be struck off the practitioners’ roll.
A judge has ordered that disputes arising between Transurban and a group of contractors over the discovery of toxic PFAS chemicals in the soil at the site of the multi-billion dollar West Gate Tunnel project in Melbourne be sent to arbitration.
A former QRx Pharma director’s prediction that shareholders would not receive “anything of consequence” from a class action settlement has proven true, with only a small slice of the $7 million settlement expected to go to shareholders.
A BP worker whose employment was reinstated after he was unfairly dismissed for sharing a video clip that included subtitles placed over a scene from the movie ‘Downfall’ about Adolf Hitler, has been awarded $201,000 in lost wages and superannuation.
Health booking company HealthEngine has urged the court to accept a $2.9 million penalty for deleting and altering unfavourable reviews, telling a judge that it did not know the behaviour was against the law.
Barrister Norman O’Bryan has accepted that he should be struck from the roll of legal practitioners after dropping his defence mid-trial against claims of professional misconduct as senior counsel for a class action financed by the late Mark Elliott, but the consequences for the once high-flying silk might not end there.
A judge has granted a mid-trial bid to bring in “potentially quite significant” new evidence in a class action against Ford over its allegedly defective PowerShift transmissions, finding the failure to file the material earlier was not deliberate but a “mistake” on the part of the lead applicant’s solicitors at Corrs Chambers Westgarth.
After “unavoidable delays”, shareholders will soon be notified of a settlement reached one year ago in a class action against QRxPharma, but a company director has warned group members will receive nothing of consequence and the law firm and funder involved in the case would be disappointed by their takeaways.
Receivers appointed in the wake of the collapse of Banksia Securities may seek costs orders against the estate of deceased funder and class action lawyer Mark Elliott, a court has heard. Meanwhile, the Victorian Bar says it has “every confidence in the judicial process” after senior counsel Norman O’Bryan yesterday abandoned his defence of misconduct allegations stemming from the case.