Herbert Smith Freehills this week escaped a cross-claim that its advice made it liable for the alleged losses of Arrium’s lenders, but the judge who tossed the claim along with the banks’ cases expressed doubts about one of the law firm’s key arguments, a warning to other firms caught up in litigation as so-called concurrent wrongdoers.
The banks and high-ranking executives targeted in pared-down criminal cartel proceedings over a $2.5 billion ANZ share placement are taking new steps to shut down the long-running case, including further probes into the ACCC’s conduct during its investigation into the alleged cartel.
Sydney retail personality Con Constantine has lost an appeal seeking to bolster a $4.25 million judgment in his favour over the $81.8 million Parklea Markets sale in 2016.
Prosecutors have withdrawn two-thirds of the charges in a criminal cartel case over a $2.5 billion ANZ share placement and have dropped their case against former Citigroup CEO Stephen Roberts, according to a lawyer in the case.
A judge has dismissed two cases brought by the Commonwealth Bank, Westpac and other lenders against directors of the failed steel giant Arrium, saying he was not satisfied the directors’ representations on loan drawdown notices were false or that the company was insolvent when it went into voluntary administration in April 2016.
The joint managers of Clive Palmer’s Queensland Nickel refinery have been ordered to pay $26.6 million for natural gas charges owed, after a court rejected claims they did not need to repay the money because pipeline owners had breached their duties.
The applicant in a shareholder class action against IOOF wants to add ten new misconduct allegations, including that a relative of a former executive made $69,000 by offloading shares.
Pharmaceutical giant Bristol-Myers Squibb will fight a case brought by Merck Sharp & Dohme alleging misuse of market power over stage IV melanoma treatments, telling the Federal Court on Friday it denied its rival’s claims.
The Star Entertainment Group will not be able to recoup losses at its casinos and hotels stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, after a judge found the company’s $4 billion industrial special risks policy did not cover financial losses from government-imposed restrictions.
Australian law firm Gilbert + Tobin has advised fintech Afterpay on the largest public acquisition in Australian history under which US-based Square will acquire all of the company’s issued shares in a landmark $39 billion deal.