The law firms and barristers who defended former Dick Smith directors in sprawling litigation over the failure of the electronics retailer earned close to $68 million in fees, a court has heard.
A group of banks that failed to prove steel giant Arrium falsified representations on loan drawdown notices ahead of its $2.8 billion collapse have been ordered to pay indemnity costs after a court found they rejected $10 million settlement offers three days into the trial.
A judge has criticised the Australian Securities and Investments Commission for treating timetabling orders in its insider trading case against Westpac over a $16 billion interest rate swap as though they were “traffic lights in Naples”.
National Australia Bank and HSBC should be “jointly and severally liable” to pay a portion of the costs of a failed case brought by Dick Smith’s receivers against the company’s former directors because the banks stood to gain financially if the lawsuit was successful, the NSW Supreme Court has heard.
Herbert Smith Freehills this week escaped a cross-claim that its advice made it liable for the alleged losses of Arrium’s lenders, but the judge who tossed the claim along with the banks’ cases expressed doubts about one of the law firm’s key arguments, a warning to other firms caught up in litigation as so-called concurrent wrongdoers.
A judge has dismissed two cases brought by the Commonwealth Bank, Westpac and other lenders against directors of the failed steel giant Arrium, saying he was not satisfied the directors’ representations on loan drawdown notices were false or that the company was insolvent when it went into voluntary administration in April 2016.
A settlement reached in a lawsuit by the liquidators of collapsed steel giant Arrium against 10 former company directors accused of insolvent trading has been approved by a judge, who noted that while the settlement amount was “substantial”, the deal involved a “substantial compromise”.
A judge has awarded $43 million to National Australia Bank in its lawsuit against former directors of failed retailer Dick Smith, but threw out claims against company directors brought by HSBC and the retailer’s receivers.
A mid-trial settlement has been reached in a lawsuit brought by the liquidators of collapsed steel giant Arrium against 10 former company directors and officers for allegedly engaging in insolvent trading.
Law firm Herbert Smith Freehills has attacked a lawsuit brought by a group of lenders against collapsed steel giant Arrium, rejecting claims that $430 million in loans was borrowed under misleading or deceptive representations.