Judges

The accountant and best friend of fraudster Scott Williams "prevaricated and lied" to hide his knowledge of the Centaur Litigation Ponzi scheme that misappropriated $32 million and led to the collapse of the litigation funder, a court has heard.

ASIC has banned the former director of AGM Markets from serving as a director for eight years, a few weeks after revoking the OTC derivative issuer's financial services licence.

A groundbreaking judgment by the Full Federal Court over competing class actions will be handed down Tuesday morning and is expected to give judges much needed guidance on how to move forward when confronted, as they increasingly are, with multiple proceedings over the same alleged misconduct.

Broadcaster Alan Jones declined an offer to settle a lawsuit alleging he defamed a prominent Queensland family by blaming them for the deaths of 12 people in the 2011 Grantham floods because he would not agreed to the terms of a proposed apology.

A judge has rejected a bid by the applicants in two shareholder class actions against online fashion retailer Surfstitch to push forward with a proposed settlement of the cases without an opt-out notice to group members.

Motorola Solutions wants to amend its pleadings in an ongoing patent case against Shenzen-based Hytera Communications to add copyright claims relating to the source code for the radio devices at the centre of the dispute.

Defending a class action alleging its vehicle warranties were worthless, a unit of car leasing company McMillan Shakespeare said it has paid out claims to more 3,600 drivers, and was obligated to consider each claim "on its merits".

The former directors of Starcom have lost their bid to stay proceedings brought by the company's liquidator alleging they knew the IT solutions provider was insolvent almost two years before it was wound up.

A court on Thursday hit property spruiker We Buy Houses and its sole director, Richard 'Rick' Otton, with a record $18 million in total fines for misleading property investors with claims they could learn to buy real estate for $1.

Network 10 told a court Thursday it would "fiercely defend" a trade mark case brought by Fairfax Media over 10's recent rebrand and its newly approved trade mark, 10 Boss.