Liquidators for collapsed steel and mining giant Arrium have successfully appealed a court ruling permitting the examination of a former director for a possible shareholder class action, with the Court of Appeal for the NSW Supreme Court finding the “private nature” of the claims was an abuse of process.
The law firm behind a long-running class action against Pitcher Partners over its auditing of Slater and Gordon is seeking court approval to drop the case, leaving the funder that bankrolled the proceeding to defend an application for indemnity costs.
Lawyer Mark Elliott was the “puppet master” behind the Banksia class action, retaning an old school mate to represent the lead applicant but in reality funding and running the proceedings with barristers Norman O’Bryan SC and Michael Symons to line their pockets at the expense of group members, a court has been told.
The funder and legal team behind a class action over the collapse of Banksia Securities billed for phantom costs in a “fraudulent scheme” to secure almost $20 million from the case, the contradictor investigating the purported misconduct has told a court.
The litigation funder behind the class action over Banksia Securities’ collapse has admitted it misled a costs consultant retained to report to the court on the reasonableness of the fees in the case, but says its commission should not take a hit as a result because the misconduct occurred after the litigation settled against Banksia’s trustee for $64 million.
Administrators for The PAS Group have failed in their bid to have almost $1.4M in rent declared an unsecured debt in the event the fashion retailer goes into liquidation amid the coronavirus pandemic.
A senior officer from the ACCC has rejected claims that the regulator took legal advice from immunity applicant JPMorgan before launching its high profile criminal cartel case against ANZ, Citigroup and Deutsche Bank.
A former high-ranking Deutsche Bank executive charged with involvement in an alleged cartel agreement relating to a $2.5 billion ANZ share placement claims he was dragged into the case becaused of the “incredibly slapdash” methods of the ACCC.
ANZ Banking Group has slammed a decision by the ACCC to escalate concerns that one of its key cartel witnesses was not being “full and frank”, claiming this was a way to put pressure on the witness and bring his evidence into line.
The ACCC’s investigatory techniques have come under fire during a hearing over an alleged criminal cartel agreement between ANZ and two investment banks, with a barrister for one of the banks suggesting investigators from the regulator deliberately did not take notes during hundreds of days of witness interviews to avoid disclosure.