AMP has taken the insurance arm of Willis Towers Watson to court to try to force it to stick to an alleged promise to rent two floors in a central Sydney commercial block that was made just before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last week’s judgment denouncing the scandalous behaviour of the legal team running the Banksia Securities class action cast a spotlight on the conduct of lawyers for some of the defendants, asking whether “untenable” defences were maintained beyond an acceptable point in the case.
Software company DST Bluedoor has lost its bid to access communications between its former founding director and AMP in a $35.5 million lawsuit accusing the financial services company of inducing 11 DST employees to jump ship after licensing its online platform.
Two class actions against Pitcher Partners and Arnold Bloch Leibler over advice given ahead of Slater & Gordon’s disastrous $1.2 billion Quindell acquisition will proceed to trial next month after mediation between the parties failed to resolve the cases.
A judge has adjourned trial in the defamation case by accused war criminal Ben Roberts-Smith to early 2022, saying relocation was not practical after COVID-19 restrictions prevented Fairfax’s witnesses travelling to Sydney.
Five enforcement officers of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission will be cross-examined by lawyers for banks facing price fixing charges over their conduct following ANZ’s $2.5 billion capital raising six years ago.
A six-week trial in a shareholder class action against Crown Resorts set to begin at the end of October will start off virtually and shift to an in-person hearing once COVID-19 restrictions are eased in Victoria.
A judge overseeing a cartel case over a $2.5 billion ANZ share placement has granted ANZ’s bid for unredacted documents which the bank says will support its claims that the case should be permanently stayed because of improper dealings between whistleblower JPMorgan, ASIC and the ACCC.
Lendlease has taken two consultants and a designer to court to recoup $8.7 million it spent on replacing combustible cladding used on its $107 million EXO residential apartment block in Melbourne’s Docklands.
Westpac will serve court documents, including a motion for contempt, on Forum founder Bill Papas by text message after securing a Greek mobile number for the absent accused fraudster, as the judge overseeing the bank’s case pulled up Papas’ former lawyer for treating his courtroom like a “suburban golf club”.