Eliot Olivier

A class action over the collapse of Arrium is bound to its pleading that the asset value of all the steelmaker's business units was impaired by a total of $2.8 billion, a judge has ruled in the second week of trial.

A mid-trial fight has erupted in a class action over the collapse of steelmaker Arrium, with the company's auditor and directors saying the case had swerved, and the plaintiff accusing the respondents of "playing games".

KPMG has told a judge there is no evidence that Arrium's share price would have changed even if it had recorded a $2.8 billion impairment, urging the judge to reject the shareholder class action's "intuitive" case on loss. 

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.

A former client of a Sydney law firm has lost his bid to up a $300,000 damages award against the firm over a defective notice in a proposed $7.8 million land sale.

Class action settlements hit major milestones last year, with the year’s largest settlements totalling $1.6 billion and one case resolving for a historic $548.5 million.

AMP has agreed to pay $29 million to settle a class action alleging insurance customers were overcharged, putting to rest another case stemming from "serious misconduct" that came to light curing the 2018 banking royal commission.

A judge has approved a $110 million settlement in a class action against BHP over the collapse of a tailings dam, and has OK'd fees and commission reducing the sum by 50 per cent, despite concerns the costs were excessive.