A judge has found that news articles published in the Herald Sun, Daily Mail and The Australian may have given group members in a class action against a Telstra contractor the “wrong impression” that they would be exposed to a cross-claim if they failed to opt out.
The former CEO of Hendry Group who claims the business consultancy suspended her after she complained of bullying and sex harassment has lashed out at the company’s claims that she was let go for misconduct, saying she only became aware of the allegations against her through board meeting minutes.
Allowing former senior barrister Norman O’Bryan to reopen his defence in the Banksia class action while “avoiding the witness box” was clearly prejudicial, and futile to boot, a judge has said in his reasons for refusing the silk’s last-minute application.
Once high-flying barrister Norman O’Bryan might seek to challenge a refusal by the judge overseeing the Banksia class action to revisit his abandoned defence and accept into evidence a document he claims proved he did not secretly hold shares in the funder behind the case.
A judge has approved a “disappointing” $25 million settlement in long-running class action litigation over the collapse of electronics retailer Dick Smith with claims worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
The litigation funding company controlled by the late solicitor Mark Elliott has told a court of its “remorse and regret” for its misconduct in the Banksia Securities class action, a case that has been described as the “darkest chapter in Victoria’s legal history”.
Business consultancy Hendry Group has told a court there was “no possible causal connection” between sex discrimination complaints brought by a former CEO and her suspension, saying that the company showed her the door because of “genuine and serious concerns” about her conduct.
The son of Banksia class action funder Mark Elliott was no Michael Corleone of the Godfather, and was not knowingly complicit in an alleged scheme masterminded by his father to defraud group members and destroy evidence, his lawyer has told a court.
Barrister Norman O’Bryan SC has failed in his last-ditch bid to reopen his defence in the Banksia class action to submit evidence he says shows he did not retain an interest in the litigation funder behind the case.
The judge overseeing the trial alleging fraud on the part of barristers and the funder behind a class action over Banksia Securities will be asked to award at least $32 million to the failed property lender’s 16,000 debenture holders for the serious misconduct alleged against the lawyers.