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The litigation funder behind a fraudulent scheme in a class action over Banksia Securities has entered administration with negligible assets to its name.
Two landmark class actions seeking damages from the Victorian government for economic losses suffered during last year's second wave of COVID-19 have been thrown out, but one of the cases will be given a second chance to proceed.
The judge who made findings against the son of the mastermind behind the Banksia class action scam may have formed strong views about the 27-year-old's role before he testified and used the flawed suggestion that he was his father's right-hand man as an "evidential gap filler", an appeals court has been told.
Two former barristers ordered to pay at least $21.7 million in damages and costs for their role in a fraudulent scheme to pocket a windfall from the Banksia Securities class action have filed for bankruptcy.
The Banksia Securities class action saga will return to the appeals court, with a lawyer indicating he plans to challenge last month's ruling that found he knowingly assisted in a plot to defraud tens of thousands of investors in the collapsed lender.
Last week’s judgment denouncing the scandalous behaviour of the legal team running the Banksia Securities class action cast a spotlight on the conduct of lawyers for some of the defendants, asking whether “untenable” defences were maintained beyond an acceptable point in the case.
The solicitor behind the successful challenge to the claim for ill-gotten spoils by the Banksia Securities class action legal team says he draws little comfort from the conclusion by the judge who strongly condemned the misconduct that the legal system is capable of regulating itself. More needs to be done to root out the systemic causes of the arrogance on display in the case, he says.
This week's judgment referring the conduct of lawyers behind the Banksia class action to prosecutors shows the effectiveness of unique legislative provisions in Victoria that should serve as a blueprint for federal reform, says barrister and University of New South Wales adjunct professor Dr Peter Cashman.
A class action over a public housing lockdown during Melbourne's second COVID-19 wave in July last year is seeking to discontinue battery and negligence claims against the Victorian government, a court has heard.
Lawyers running the scandal-ridden Banksia class action have been struck from the roll of practitioners, will face criminal investigation and must pay group members $11.7 million in damages.