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.
The High Court has rejected special leave applications by mining magnate Gina Rinehart to appeal a ruling which only partially stayed a legal dispute over ownership rights and royalties relating to the Rinehart family-owned Hope Downs iron ore mine, with one judge calling the mining magnate’s arguments a “tortured articulation” and “very odd”.
Ashurst has snagged a long-time commercial litigation partner from Clayton Utz as part of a planned “major expansion” of its disputes team.
Women’s activewear company Lorna Jane has defended ACCC allegations that it represented to consumers during that height of the coronavirus pandemic that its activewear would protect them from viruses including COVID-19, saying it had a reasonable and proper basis for making the claims.
A judge has refused to grant a further “indulgence” to Melbourne-based construction company Maxcon in a settled dispute with a barristers chambers, finding justice was better served by putting an end to the case despite on ongoing costs dispute.
The law firm behind a long-running class action over the 2011 floods in Queensland which reached a $440 million partial settlement last month has estimated that its legal bill to date totals around $60 million.
Ardent Leisure Group has hit back at a $310 million shareholder class action, denying that there were “obvious” risks in its Thunder River Rapids Ride ahead of a 2016 tragedy at the Dreamworld theme park which claimed four lives.
Attorney-General Christian Porter has filed defamation proceedings in the Federal Court against the ABC and journalist Louise Milligan over an online article he says made false allegations against him.
Swiss drug giant Novartis has sued generic drug maker Pharmacor to halt its launch of a generic version of the company’s top-selling MS drug Gilenya.