A local court magistrate overseeing the ANZ criminal cartel case has denied a bid by prosecutors to be given twice the length of time typically allotted to parties for case conference discussions, saying the sooner the proceedings can be transferred to the Federal Court the better.
New laws aimed at regulating litigation funders are due to commence on Saturday, but Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is keeping a lid on four emails exchanged with the watchdog in the days leading up to the decision to bring in the sweeping changes.
Lawyer Alex Elliott, the son of the funder behind the Banksia Securities class action, has been ordered to give a “full, frank and honest” explanation of his role in an alleged fraudulent scheme to inflate legal fees in the case, and he risks his career if he’s not forthcoming.
A court has approved a $2.9 million penalty against medical booking platform HealthEngine after the company admitted to deleting and altering unfavourable reviews and misusing consumer data.
A judge has signed off on a $2.5 million settlement of a class action against the developers of the Governor Place residential complex in Canberra brought by apartment owners over the GST payments on their units, with the funder of the proceedings to earn $1.9 million.
The son of controversial funder and lawyer Mark Elliott has been joined to proceedings alleging the lawyers behind the Banksia Securities class action conspired to pocket excessive fees in the case, after a court heard there was a “litany” of evidence he was party to the alleged fraudulent scheme.
Disgraced senior counsel Norman O’Bryan and the son of deceased lawyer Mark Elliott are among the targets of a summons for $7 million in legal bills racked up in the fight over commission and costs in the Banksia Securities class action, a fight that has already claimed the career of O’Bryan and another barrister.
Consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble has dropped a lawsuit accusing competitor Colgate-Palmolive of breaching consumer laws by making false claims about the performance of its whitening toothpaste that threatened to push its own brand of whitener off the shelves.
The solicitor on the record in a class action over the collapse of Banksia Securities has admitted that he never asked to see the fee slips of one of the barristers acting in the case, conceding that this was a ‘gross dereliction’ to his clients.
An independent costs consultant retained to assess the legal fees sought to be recouped from a settlement in a class action over the collapse of Banksia Securities has denied he was the “dogsbody” of funder Mark Elliott during a fiery cross examination at trial over the costs of the litigation.