The Morrison government has announced significant reforms to insolvency laws as part of its economic recovery plan that take inspiration from US chapter 11 laws, but Australia’s peak legal body has said the timeframe for the changes and lack of consultation were “very concerning”.
The Queensland Supreme Court has shot down an “entirely speculative” bid by two Clive Palmer-owned companies to access information held by two law firms and a litigation funder, as the mining magnate mulls a lawsuit for potential breaches of a settlement reached in the Queensland Nickel liquidation proceedings.
The director of the beleaguered Mayfair investment group, who has been self-represented in winding up proceedings by ASIC, has now entered into a late stage retainer with law firm Ashurst, with his barrister saying he could no longer manage the case on his own after the regulator filed a lengthy affidavit.
A judge has ordered 17 companies connected to Mayfair’s “failed” IPO Wealth Fund to be wound up after finding the fund’s director put investor money at risk through “highly speculative” investments to make a windfall for himself.
Companies associated with Mayfair’s IPO Wealth Fund should be wound up because they contained assets “artificially inflated” in value and ran what was effectively a Ponzi scheme, the Victoria Supreme Court has heard.
The director of besieged investment group Mayfair 101 has called for an investigation into the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, calling a winding up proceeding brought by the financial watchdog “a form of malicious prosecution” based on a “flawed fundamental misunderstanding” and supported by an erroneous report from auditor Deloitte.
Alex Elliott, the son of former Banksia Securities class action lawyer Mark Elliott, must hand over documents revealing his financial interests in his father’s litigation funding company and law firm, after the judge overseeing professional misconduct claims against lawyers in the class action rejected his claims that the discovery was a fishing expedition.
Ernst & Young is facing a claim for $12 million damages in a lawsuit over its auditing of collapsed soda ash maker Penrice.
Recent changes in the Australian regulation of third-party funders will have a dramatic effect on the funding of certain disputes. Although these changes were accompanied by Government and industry commentary that they would not affect litigation funding for insolvency-related claims, this may not be the case for all insolvency funding arrangements, writes Lina Kolomoitseva of funder Litigation Capital Management.
The judge overseeing professional misconduct claims against lawyers in the Banksia class action has denied Alex Elliott’s request to stay the case against him while he takes his recusal application to the Court of Appeal, branding the stay ‘an indulgence’.