A group of unsecured creditors of ‘Diamond Joe’ Gutnik’s mining firm Merlin Diamonds has launched a NSW Supreme Court bid to preserve their rights over security interests in the company as the clock ticks down to its impending liquidation.
Technology firm Globaltech Corporation has filed Federal Court proceedings against rival Reflex Instruments for selling two mining survey devices to drilling company Boart Longyear that allegedly infringe its patent.
A unit of staffing company Programmed has become the latest target of a litigation blitz over casual workers, with the company facing a $45 million class action for allegedly failing to pay workers accrued annual leave and other entitlements.
The Federal Government is considering reforms targeting litigation funders in response to what it has called a greater number of “increasingly politicised” class actions against companies in the mining and resources industry.
The Federal Court has ruled against mining services firm Thiess in a class action brought by construction workers seeking unpaid wages for time spent on the bus travelling home from work on the project site for a Pilbara-based liquefied natural gas processing plant owned by Woodside Energy.
Bail conditions have been set for a former BlueScope Steel executive charged with obstructing an Australian Competition and Consumer Commission criminal cartel probe into the steel company, the first criminal charges ever brought against an individual in relation to an ACCC investigation.
The competition regulator has been probing alleged cartel conduct by steel giant Bluescope for a number of years, counsel for the company told a court Friday as it sought transcripts of the watchdog’s compulsory interviews of witnesses and asked for five months to put on a defence.
UGL shareholders that signed up to a class action against the engineering company over disclosures related to its Ichthys power plant contract will get less than half of an $18 million settlement, even after the litigation funder takes a steep cut to its 30 per cent commission and the plaintiff’s firm caps its fees.
A subpoena issued by the daughter of mining magnate Gina Rinehart seeking documents from Corrs Chambers Westgarth, the law firm representing her mother’s company, has been set aside by a judge, who found the material had no forensic purpose in the family’s long-running fight over a $5 billion trust.
A litigation funder is planning to challenge a landmark Federal Court ruling that found for the first time that funders can be ordered to pay security for costs in Fair Work class actions.