The behaviour of the legal team running the Banksia Securities class action was “reprehensible” and the solicitor who allowed himself to be controlled by lawyer and funder Mark Elliott should be struck from the court’s roll of practitioners, a judge heard Tuesday.
A solicitor fighting to remain on the roll after his involvement in the infamous Banksia Securities class action has told of his regret at having lunch with the funder behind the case eight years ago — a meeting that set in motion a plot driven by lawyers to deceive seven Supreme Court judges and defraud thousands of investors.
A class action over the failure of six managed investment schemes for eucalyptus wood in Tasmania has accused KPMG of failing to advise forestry giant Gunns that it had to tell growers about $720 million in financing it sought in 2007.
The future of a class action against a Canberra property developer accused of misleading investors about GST on their apartments is in doubt after the litigation funder withdrew support for the “uneconomic” case.
Shareholders bringing a class action against Quintis have lost their bid for Ernst & Young to hand over documents from two meetings with a director of the sandalwood supplier, after a judge found they did not get “within a bull’s roar” of showing the accounting firm’s discovery was inadequate.
Six more fertility clinics in states across the country are set to be pulled into a class action against Monash IVF on behalf of hundreds of men and women demanding damages for the alleged destruction of potentially viable embryos.
Philips Electronics has hit back at a class action over recalled sleep apnea machines that contained a foam component that could allegedly degrade and cause consumers to inhale dangerous chemicals, saying the devices were not defective when they were sold.
Law firm Maurice Blackburn will ask a court to approve $14.5 million in costs for running a class action against Colonial First State that has settled for $56.3 million, giving account holders 75 per cent of the proceeds.
The plaintiffs in a class action over alleged unfair flex commission arrangements have hit back at Macquarie Leasing’s claims that out-of-pocket customers should have negotiated better deals with car dealers, arguing car loans were taken out as part of a “staged sales process” that limited negotiation.
A judge has signed off on a $125 million settlement to resolve a shareholder class action against Crown Resorts over disclosures relating to its Chinese gambling operations, but has shaved $1 million from the funder’s proposed commission.