Perry Herzfeld

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.

The landlord of a Western Sydney commercial property has been awarded $328,000 in lost rent and outgoings after its former tenant, baked goods producer Allied Pinnacle, failed to repaint the external walls at the site.

NSW Police has argued the lead plaintiff in a class action over strip searches at music festivals should only receive $33,000 in damages rather than $93,000 and is challenging a finding that the strip searches were done “as a matter of routine”.

The eSafety Commissioner has struck back at Elon Musk-owned X Corp's claims that it should not have to comply with a new online safety standard when it is already subject to rules for social media companies.

A landlord has won its bid to have lost rent and outgoings assessed as part of damages it is owed after a judge found baked goods producer Allied Pinnacle was required to repaint the outside when its commercial lease at a Western Sydney property ended.