Companies associated with the wife of disgraced senior barrister Norman O’Bryan can’t get a new judge to hear their battle against a third-party costs summons that would make them jointly liable for a $21.5 million judgment for investors in a class action over Banksia Securities’ collapse.
Murray Goulburn insurer AIG Australia says it should not have to pay 20 per cent of a $42 million class action settlement reached by the dairy cooperative, arguing on Tuesday that the class action claims failed to satisfy the definition of a “securities claim” in its insurance policy.
Lawyer Alex Elliott, the son of the mastermind behind an alleged fraudulent scheme by certain members of the legal team in the Banksia class action, has resisted handing over evidence in the case against him, invoking the right to silence in the face of possible criminal charges.
The cost consultant joined as a defendant in the trial over alleged misconduct by the Banksia class action legal team has died, the second person implicated in the fee scandal to die this year.
Lawyer Alex Elliott was complicit in a plan by his late father to mislead the court and group members in the Banksia class action, to conceal conflicts of interest and to profit from the case at the expense of debenture holders, a judge has been told.
The judge overseeing a settled class action against Murray Goulburn, which earned millions of dollars for the same legal team accused of serious misconduct in the running of the Banksia class action, invited the parties last month to reopen the case, concerned he had been misled when approving the lawyers’ costs.
The legal watchdog in Victoria will be asked to probe potential misconduct against the legal team behind the controversial Banksia Securities class action for their fees in a separate class action, which last year settled for $40 million.
The son of controversial funder and lawyer Mark Elliott has been joined to proceedings alleging the lawyers behind the Banksia Securities class action conspired to pocket excessive fees in the case, after a court heard there was a “litany” of evidence he was party to the alleged fraudulent scheme.
Barrister Norman O’Bryan SC has abandoned his defence of misconduct allegations stemming from the Banksia Securities class action and expressed contrition to the court for his actions.
Dairy cooperative Murray Goulburn has launched proceedings against AIG Australia seeking to recover 20 per cent of a $42 million class action settlement it paid, plus the legal costs of defending two class actions.