The receiver appointed a decade ago to claw back money for investors in failed Banksia Securities might seek the protection of a court order releasing him from proposed new proceedings, which would also target lawyers alleged to have breached their overarching obligations.
Lender WholeCap has lost its bid for a “break fee” and $430,000 in legal costs billed by King & Wood Mallesons associated with a term sheet for a proposed $66.1 million loan to a Harbour Land entity.
A bid by Banksia Securities’ special purpose receiver to thwart planned proceedings by a group of debenture holders against lawyers for the class action funder has failed.
The firm that represented the funder of the notorious Banksia class action faces potential proceedings by a group of debenture holders. Meanwhile, Banksia’s receiver wants a court direction that he is justified in not pursuing the lawyers.
Telstra’s case against two family members of a former employee accused of stealing millions of dollars in phones and other electronics has been paused pending the outcome of criminal proceedings, with a court finding the telco’s pursuit of proceeds of the alleged crime would prejudice the pair’s right to silence.
An appeals court has shot down funder Augusta’s challenge to a decision that cut its commission in the Opal Tower class action, putting funders on notice that they will have to marshal compelling evidence to win approval for their returns from an increasingly watchful court.
Senior restructuring and insolvency lawyers have welcomed a novel ruling that found a liquidator was entitled to claim his costs ahead of the preferred claims of company employees, but questions remain about the “potentially difficult” interaction between two conflicting priority regimes.
In a novel decision, a judge has found that a liquidator is entitled to claim his “arguably disproportionate” costs ahead of the preferred claims of company employees.
The funder in the Opal Tower class action has appealed a judge’s decision to slash its commission for not disclosing proposed deductions from the settlement sum as percentages, telling the Full Court that group members could do “simple arithmetic”.
Courts stepped up their scrutiny of class action settlements in 2022, with judges grappling with difficult issues such as funding commissions in employment cases and whether settlements, even those worth hundreds of millions of dollars, were fair to group members.