Certain claims in a shareholder class action against insolvent training company Vocation and auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers have been dropped, as the long-running case awaits a new trial date pending the outcome of a separate Full Court appeal.
Sydney-based liquidator David Iannuzzi has been disqualified from serving as an insolvency practitioner for 10 years, in the first case brought by the Australian Tax Office under the Corporations Act’s ban on tax avoidance schemes.
A NSW Supreme Court judge has raised concerns about a dispute over fees owed to two law firms and a funder in relation to four shareholder actions brought against the liquidators of HIH Insurance.
The administrators and liquidators of failed auction house Mossgreen have had their $646,000 in fees approved over the objections of creditors, with a judge saying they were entitled to the remuneration after recovering more than $2 million in assets.
A judge has briefly stayed his $76.6 million judgment against IOOF subsidiary Australian Executor Trustees over the sale of a timber plantation by the collapsed Gunns Group as AET weighs an appeal of the ruling, which dismissed its cross-claim against law firm Sparke Helmore.
Lawyers behind four quasi representative proceedings against the liquidators of collapsed HIH Insurance have launched a bid to recoup the costs of their successful 18-year-long legal battle.
A judge has dismissed three proceedings by shareholders against the liquidator of failed global financial services firm Babcock & Brown, in a finding that highlights “serious problems” with market-based causation and may have ramifications for securities class actions.
A partner at Big Six firm Ashurst has challenged a NSW Supreme Court decision appointing liquidators to his Point Piper home in a protracted dispute with an ex-judge neighbour, saying the judge was confused and made an order which was an “affront to our system of adversarial justice”.
Justice David Hammerschlag of the NSW Supreme Court has a way with words that readily lends itself to dramatic courtroom headlines. The “Hammer,” as he is known, also pulls no punches and is quick with one liners that keep counsel on their toes. Here, Lawyerly looks at some of the recent best moments inside courtroom 7D.
A new government inquiry will look at the fees and practices of insolvency professionals and whether the current insolvency system is set up to help struggling businesses turn around.