Anton Trichardt

The CEO of Melbourne builder Vansan Construction has persuaded a court to quash a $2 million default judgment won by SK Developments.

The CEO of embattled Melbourne builder Vansan Construction is fighting a $2 million default judgment for SK Developments, saying he was given no opportunity to defend himself.

Melbourne developer SK Developments has won freezing orders against a builder, with a judge finding there was a danger that a $1.98 million judgment could be avoided. 

Lawyers behind a scheme to defraud members of a class action over the collapse of Banksia Securities have offered $10.6 million to resolve a case that has put them on the hook for at least double that sum.

Lawyers running the scandal-ridden Banksia class action have been struck from the roll of practitioners, will face criminal investigation and must pay group members $11.7 million in damages.

It has been described as the darkest chapter in Victoria's legal history, an exemplar of all that is terrible with class actions in Australia. A case of greedy lawyers who found their golden egg in a group of retirees who had lost their life savings, never thinking the chickens might come home to roost. Until now.

Allowing former senior barrister Norman O'Bryan to reopen his defence in the Banksia class action while "avoiding the witness box" was clearly prejudicial, and futile to boot, a judge has said in his reasons for refusing the silk's last-minute application.

Once high-flying barrister Norman O'Bryan might seek to challenge a refusal by the judge overseeing the Banksia class action to revisit his abandoned defence and accept into evidence a document he claims proved he did not secretly hold shares in the funder behind the case.

The litigation funding company controlled by the late solicitor Mark Elliott has told a court of its "remorse and regret" for its misconduct in the Banksia Securities class action, a case that has been described as the "darkest chapter in Victoria's legal history".

The son of Banksia class action funder Mark Elliott was no Michael Corleone of the Godfather, and was not knowingly complicit in an alleged scheme masterminded by his father to defraud group members and destroy evidence, his lawyer has told a court.