Ernst & Young, which is facing a lawsuit brought by the receiver of a fund overseen by failed financial services firm LM Investment Management, has lost its bid to file a claim for damages against LMIM, with a judge saying the auditor’s case was “flawed” and “counterintuitive”.
Two name partners at law firm Tucker & Cowen have lost another attempt to dismiss a case brought against them by the receivers of failed fund manager Equititrust over $17.5 million in funds allegedly obtained by deceptive means.
A partner at Big Six firm Ashurst has lost his bid to stop liquidators taking control of his Point Piper home in a long-running dispute with his ex-judge neighbour, after parts of his case were dismissed as “bordering on irrational”.
An appeals court has upheld a ruling that found two firms previously run by Joseph “Diamond Joe” Gutnik and his family were insolvent, ending a long-running battle over hundreds of millions of dollars in mining assets.
The liquidator of a subsidiary of collapsed Ambient Advertising has launched legal proceedings against the company’s director after getting the all-clear from the Federal Court to enter into an agreement with a litigation funder that will take 45 per cent of the proceeds.
A judge has urged a partner at Big Six firm Ashurst not to “keep a fight going just because you can’t let it go”, after the lawyer tried to challenge a court ruling over a long-running building dispute with his neighbour, a former Family Court judge, in the exclusive Sydney suburb of Point Piper.
IOOF subsidiary Australian Executor Trustees has been hit with an $80.6 million judgment after breaching its duty as trustee in the sale of a 42,000 hectare timber plantation by collapsed forestry giant Gunns Group, and it can’t pass the liability on to Spark Helmore, despite the law firm’s inadequate advice.
The liquidators of failed Gold Coast investment group Octaviar have been given the thumbs up to reject over $900 million in proofs of debt from two of the firm’s subsidiaries after the Queensland Supreme Court ruled they had received competent legal advice on the matter and were justified in the rejections.
The special purpose liquidator appointed to four companies in the collapsed James Estate Wines group has been given the go-ahead by a judge to enter into a litigation funding arrangement with the conglomerate’s former director and pursue $57.1 million in potential claims against ANZ Banking Group.
A judge has appointed provisional liquidators to ‘Diamond Joe’ Gutnick’s mining company Merlin Diamonds, after finding evidence of “serious mismanagement” and citing an urgent need to investigate the company’s books.