Christopher Withers

Former directors of steelmaker Arrium have rejected shareholder class action claims that the company's collapse was foreseeable, calling claims they had their heads in the sand “arrant nonsense”. 

KPMG failed to bring the necessary scepticism to the task of auditing failing steel manufacturer Arrium, instead leaving contradictory evidence unresolved and giving the company a clean bill of health, a shareholder class action has told the court.

A shareholder class action against KPMG and ex-Arrium directors says the company's accounts were infected by "chronic and systemic overoptimism", with the former operator of Whyalla Steelworks portraying as viable a business that was impaired up to $2.8 billion.

CS Energy wants a judge to recuse himself from hearing IG Power's $1 billion lawsuit over "catastrophic" incidents at the Callide coal-fired power station in Queensland in light of an earlier judgment in proceedings by the Australian Energy Regulator.

A judge has allowed a 50 per cent fee uplift for counsel in an epic fight over lucrative tenements in the Pilbara region, but says the hourly fees of solicitors from the likes of Allens, Clayton Utz and Corrs were already well above market rate.

Mining magnate Gina Rinehart is on the hook for royalties payable to the heirs of iron ore pioneers Don Rhodes and Peter Wright, a judge has held in a long-running battle over lucrative tenements in the Pilbara region.

Australia's richest person Gina Rinehart could be on the hook for millions of dollars in royalty payments, in a long-running battle over lucrative iron ore mining tenements in Western Australia's Pilbara region.

Dairy giant a2 Milk has agreed to cough up $62 million to settle a consolidated shareholder class action over a 2021 guidance.

The Commonwealth has appealed a ruling that found the ATO knowingly received millions misappropriated by a former Kupang Resources director in order to satisfy a tax debt against him and skewered the office's “policy of wilful blindness” in pursuit of the debt.

Boral wants a judge to wait until the High Court delivers a judgment in cases against CBA before issuing his decision in shareholder class actions against the building materials giant. But the applicant says the court can’t wait for “perfect clarification” of the law.