Receivers appointed in the wake of the collapse of Banksia Securities may seek costs orders against the estate of deceased funder and class action lawyer Mark Elliott, a court has heard. Meanwhile, the Victorian Bar says it has “every confidence in the judicial process” after senior counsel Norman O’Bryan yesterday abandoned his defence of misconduct allegations stemming from the case.
AFT Pharmaceuticals has suffered another blow over its Maxigesic advertisements, with a judge finding the marketing material misled consumers by claiming to provide better, faster and more effective pain relief than paracetamol or ibuprofen.
Generic drug maker Sandoz has successfully appealed a $26.3 million judgment finding it infringed a patent owned by rival H Lundbeck relating to the top-selling antidepressant Lexapro.
Counselling app Lyf is suing smartphone maker Mintt for allegedly infringing on a trade mark it owns for the universal OK hand gesture, saying Mintt’s logo is substantially identical to Lyf’s registered mark.
Fundraising company Appco has reached a settlement to resolve a class action alleging it misclassified its army of sales people as independent contractors.
The law firm running an underpayments class action against petrol convenience store chain On The Run has been ordered to issue a notice correcting certain statements made on its website about the company and the class action, including that the claims in the case are worth up to $70 million.
Barrister Norman O’Bryan SC has abandoned his defence of misconduct allegations stemming from the Banksia Securities class action and expressed contrition to the court for his actions.
Media companies that are fighting defamation proceedings over articles that accused decorated war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith of war crimes have won court permission to amend their defence to include evidence the soldier was involved in another alleged murder.
Sydney businessmen Charif and Tarek Kazal have appealed a ruling that found their claims against Gilbert + Tobin over an alleged dishonest scheme to rob them of a 50 per cent stake in a lucrative Sydney waste facility were “fundamentally incoherent”.
A recent decision in ASIC’s case against ANZ has highlighted the potential risks of waiver of client legal privilege, with the Federal Court observing that the distinctions can be “fine”. While ANZ avoided having to disclose its legal advice to the regulator, the decision is a reminder of the potential pitfalls of referring to legal advice in correspondence, and that pleading a state of mind in litigation carries risks from a privilege perspective, says Hall & Wilcox partner Jacob Uljans.