A court has taken an ax to the final bill by liquidators of three failed subsidiaries of multi-national agribusiness SK Foods Group, lopping off 30 per cent after a successful intervention by the corporate regulator, which called the more than $5.7 million claimed by the liquidators excessive.
Ernst & Young, which has been named in a class action over its auditing of sandalwood producer Quintis, has filed cross-claims alleging Quintis should pick up the tab for any liability it may face in the proceedings.
The Federal Court has approved a $14.6 million class action settlement with private training company Ashley Services, auditors Deloitte and Grant Thornton, and Holmes Management Group, with IMF Bentham set to pocket around $4.8 million for funding the litigation.
Failed sandalwood oil producer Quintis has agreed to hand over insurance policies showing any coverage for potential liability it or its former CEO may have in two class actions brought against them.
Piper Alderman has urged a judge to excuse its “obviously accidental” breach of legal profession costs regulations in its Discovery Metals investor class action against KPMG, warning that group members could suffer detriment if its $3.5 million legal bill was not approved quickly.
The court has blocked a unit of Fortescue Metals Group from accessing emails sent by Squire Patton Boggs about a now disputed power purchase agreement, saying the communications are privileged.
A judge has questioned whether he should approve the $3 million legal bill in the settled Discovery Metals shareholder class action against KPMG, amid concerns the plaintiff’s lawyers, Piper Alderman, breached legal profession regulations by failing to update their estimated costs.
A judge has signed off on the confidential settlement of a shareholder class action brought against KPMG relating to the failed $830 million hostile takeover of mining firm Discovery Metals, despite objections that the settlement process was “unfair and unjust”.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has dragged video game giant Sony to court over allegedly deceptive and misleading claims made about games purchased on the PlayStation Network.
The consumer watchdog has brought legal action against online retailer Kogan Australia alleging one of its discount promotions duped customers.