The widow of mining billionaire Ken Talbot has been denied a separate trial to answer questions of privilege in her negligence lawsuit against law firms Arnold Bloch Leibler and Boyd Legal for their handling of her late husband’s estate, which she claims resulted in tens of millions of dollars in losses.
The judge overseeing three class actions against the Commonwealth over its use of allegedly toxic firefighting foam, which have settled for $212.5 million, said backing by a litigation funder led to a better outcome for group members, who would otherwise have been in the disadvantaged position of “supplicants requesting compensation”.
Court documents sought to be kept confidential in a case alleging professional misconduct against barrister Norman O’Bryan SC in his role as counsel for a class action over the collapse of Banksia Securities accuse the top silk of continuing to have an interest in the funder that bankrolled the proceedings after his wife was said to have sold her shares.
A judge has rejected calls to keep confidential the details of professional misconduct claims against the funder and lawyers behind the Banksia Securities class action, in a ruling that revealed that investors of the collapsed lender could recover $30 million more if allegations against the legal team are established at trial.
The widow of mining billionaire Ken Talbot has filed a negligence lawsuit against law firms Arnold Bloch Leibler and Boyd Legal for their handling of her late husband’s estate, which she claims resulted in tens of millions of dollars in losses.
Slater and Gordon’s conduct when settling a previous securities class action against it armed the lead plaintiff with the information he needed to later bring a class action against Arnold Bloch Leibler, a court has heard.
The law firm facing scrutiny over its legal fees in a class action over the collapse of Banksia Securities will argue that if it is found liable for any misconduct in the running of the case at an upcoming trial, the litigation funder and the barristers it briefed share in the blame.
The Virgin Australia administration continues to boost billables at the top end of town, with a short list of “well-funded” buyers revealed on Monday and an intense four weeks ahead as the bidders and their law firms scramble to make binding offers by the mid-June deadline.
Arnold Bloch Leibler has been granted access to due diligence docs related to Slater and Gordon’s $1.2 billion acquisition of professional services firm Quindell, to use in its defence of a class action over advice it gave on the troubled acquisition.
A prominent silk deliberately misled a cost consultant retained to provide an opinion on the barrister’s fees to a court overseeing a class action over the collapse of Banksia Securities, then joked about it with lawyer and litigation funder Mark Elliott, a judge has been told.