A judge has shot down an attempt by former Johnson Winter & Slattery clients to secure records of phone calls by their solicitor to corroborate claims the lawyer repeatedly advised them to ignore a settlement offer in a commercial case they later lost.
A Melbourne law firm and barrister will soon face trial over allegations of breach of fiduciary duty brought by a former client who lost a lawsuit over a $24.5 million property joint venture.
The managing partner of a Brisbane-based law firm has failed to shut down a bid for compensation brought in disciplinary proceedings filed by the Legal Services Commissioner, which is seeking damages identical to those sought in a separate negligence case by a client.
While there was no shortage of pain and challenges for law firms as the coronavirus raged across the globe last year, a number of big firms also felt the sting of litigation from disgruntled clients, partners and employees.
Bourke Street cafe Barfly’s has agreed to hand over $646,250 to the court in trust in an ongoing spat over its legal bills with a law firm that negotiated a $2.4 million settlement for the cafe in a negligence case.
HWL Ebsworth has successfully defended a negligence lawsuit over the $25.5 million sale of Crown-owned Sydney land to property developer PPK Group, with a court finding that the developer was actually “better off” because of the transaction.
A $50 million settlement has been reached in a long-running shareholder class action against defunct vocational training company Vocation that also spawned multiple cross-claims against the failed company’s auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers, law firm Johnson Winter & Slattery and individual directors.
Two more law firms have been joined to a lawsuit by defunct financial advisor Dover Financial accusing three law firms of providing negligent advice regarding an inaptly titled client protection policy which a judge found was “highly misleading” and “an exercise in Orwellian doublespeak”.
The owner of Melbourne’s Barfly’s, which has been sued by its former law firm for unpaid fees relating to a $2.4 million settlement negotiated for the Flinders Street cafe in negligence proceedings, has raised questions about the nearly $1 million in fees charged by the firm and a barrister that worked on the case.
A judge overseeing the Ruby Princess class action has cautioned funders against “double dipping” when seeking payouts from group members, while cruise line Carnival has attempted to shift part of the blame for the COVID-19 debacle onto the Prime Minister.