Two units of global insurer Lloyd’s have launched a constitutional challenge to a Federal Court order requiring accounting firm Pitcher Partners to hand over certain insurance documents in two shareholder class actions.
A top-tier Australian law firm has been ordered to pay more than half a million dollars in damages for professional negligence, after its billionaire client alleged losses of almost $US37 million following a “critical omission” in legal advice.
A judge has removed the funder and law firm leading the Banksia Securities class action from their roles supervising a proposed settlement distribution scheme after the funder was accused of intimidation, a lack of experience and charging excessive costs.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has brought proceedings against publicly-traded BlueScope Steel and a former general manager for allegedly engaging in “serious cartel conduct” in relation to the supply of flat steel products in Australia.
Crown Resorts has been given the greenlight to challenge a court order allowing former employees to talk to lawyers for a class action over its business in China, but the class has another chance to make its case that the ruling should stand.
Former Wallabies player Israel Folau has argued that the termination of his $5.7 million contract by a Rugby Australia Tribunal over social media posts in which he made a homphobic slur was an unreasonable restraint of trade.
The third judge assigned to oversee a lawsuit filed against law firm Norton Rose Fulbright by a former partner has refused to recuse himself on the grounds of apprehended bias, despite being accused of behaviour that was “grossly disrespectful”, “absurdly obtuse” and “fundamentally lacking in logic”.
Engineering firm WorleyParsons has told the Federal Court it will press forward with a no case application in an attempt to shut down a shareholder class action against it.
The Federal Court has partially struck out publisher Pan Macmillan Australia’s defence in a defamation case brought by Sydney identity Thomas Domican over a “fleeting reference” in a book by nightclub magnate John Ibrahim.
One month after Japanese shipping company K-Line was hit with a $34.5 million fine for cartel conduct, Norwegian shipping firm Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean AS has said it will plead guilty to one charge of criminal cartel conduct for its role in the same scheme.
For information on rights and reprints, contact subscriptions@lawyerly.com.au
