Elisa Holmes

Dexus has halved the number of documents it claims are shielded by legal privilege from production to fellow owners of airport operator APAC ahead of trial over an alleged breach of a shareholder deed, a court heard Monday.

Real estate asset manager Dexus has won access to advice given by the lawyers of two shareholders of airport operator APAC over an alleged breach of a shareholder deed. 

Dexus has claimed legal professional privilege prevents fellow owners of airport operator APAC from accessing tens of thousands of documents as they prepare for trial over an alleged breach of a shareholder deed.

Airport operator Australia Pacific Airports Corporation has won its bid to delay an upcoming trial in a dispute with Dexus over alleged breaches of a shareholder deed, after the real estate asset manager discovered 20,000 documents only last week. 

ASIC has won approval to bring claims against troubled regional airline Rex and four of its directors for allegedly misleading investors about the company's financial position.

The CFO of former market darling Big Un, who has been charged with insider trading, has been excused from filing a defence or taking other procedural steps in the collapsed company’s case against its ex-directors. 

The liquidators for Halifax Investment Services were justified in reaching a compromise settlement in proceedings against King & Wood Mallesons alleging the firm and former auditor Bentleys failed to advise the defunct stockbroker that it had to hold client funds used to trade on its online platform on trust, a judge has found.

Investors in collapsed stockbroker Halifax Investment Services have failed to overturn decisions in Australia and New Zealand relating to the date of realisation of their investments which have decreased the amount they can recover in the company's liquidation.

Payouts in class actions in 2020 largely kept pace with the previous year despite the financial strain of the COVID-19 pandemic, with companies and other defendants paying more than $696 million to settle class actions last year.

The NSW Court of Appeal has passed on the question of whether a judge can make a common fund order when a class action settles to ensure a certain return to litigation funders, but the issue is not going away, whatever the Federal Court's decision in a parallel case.