David Williams

HWL Ebsworth and a former capital partner have both appealed a ruling that found the partner was invalidly expelled in 2020 but that his partnership had been dissolved from the day he sued his former firm. 

A former capital partner at HWL Ebsworth has lost his argument that he remained in the firm’s partnership until last month, after a judge found he was invalidly expelled in 2020. 

The High Court has held that a contractor had a “prima facie entitlement” to recoup the costs of building an aircraft hangar in Cessnock, NSW, which it spent in reliance on the local government performing its obligations under their contract, in a case that clarifies how courts should assess reliance damages claims. 

HWL Ebsworth has argued a former capital partner who was found to have been invalidly expelled in 2020 cannot claim a share of the law firm’s profits from then to now, saying he could not reap the benefits of partnership without the “burdens”.

A judge has ruled that HWL Ebsworth invalidly expelled a former capital partner, finding that the expulsion, which prevented him from participating in a planned float of the firm on the ASX, breached the partnership deed. 

A former HWL Ebsworth capital partner alleging he was unlawfully expelled and excluded from a planned float on the ASX has argued HWLE’s late managing partner, Juan Martinez, thought the firm could “hire and fire at will” without giving proper reasons.

The High Court has denied a bid for special leave by the Commonwealth Bank and other lenders to challenge a ruling that found two Arrium directors did not mislead them about loan drawdown notices ahead of the steel company’s $2.8 billion collapse. 

Pitcher Partners has lost its appeal of a decision that refused to stay a lawsuit over the accounting firm’s alleged involvement in race car driver Max Twigg’s misappropriation of $127 million from his family. 

An appeals court has taken Pitcher Partners to task in its appeal seeking to throw out a lawsuit over the accounting firm’s alleged involvement in race car driver Max Twigg’s misappropriation of $127 million from his family. 

Commonwealth Bank and other lenders of Arrium have filed for special leave to appeal to the High Court after losing their latest bid to make two directors liable for allegedly misleading them about loan drawdown notices ahead of the steel company’s $2.8 billion collapse.