A judge has signed off on an application to set aside a portion of a $30 million settlement in a class action over the 2004 Palm Island riots for financial counselling for registered group members, saying the court had the power to make the landmark order.
A late proposal by the Australian Law Reform Commission to introduce a ‘leave to proceed’ mechanism into class actions has been blasted by a major litigation funder and a plaintiffs-side law firm as a de facto class certification procedure that would ramp up costs and add years of delay to cases.
ASIC wants provisional liquidators appointed to Chinese bottled water supplier Tianmei Beverage to determine whether the company has breached the Corporations Act and should be wound up, just two years after the company went public.
Liberal Democrat senator David Leyonhjelm has made good on his threat to challenge a ruling that kept alive a defamation lawsuit brought by Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young after he accused her of labelling all men rapists on the sidelines of a Senate debate.
Former Aussie Home Loan boss Stephen Porges has secured a temporary stay of a ruling that found he owed Adcock Private Equity more than $1 million for duping the firm into buying his worthless shares in a digital commerce startup.
The High Court has shot down a request by the former head of food franchisor Retail Food Group that it relieve him from having to appear before a Parliamentary Committee looking into the Franchise Code of Conduct.
Squire Patton Boggs has refused a request by rival Phi Finney McDonald for the details of group members it signed up to its now stayed shareholder class action against GetSwift, a court has learned, in the latest show of resistance by the losing law firm.
An expert witness in an investor class action against Fitch Ratings over toxic financial products is no expert at all, the lead applicant told the court in contesting the admissibility of the expert’s evidence.
Vocational education provider Captain Cook College has panned the ACCC for delaying its recently filed case against the college by failing to prepare a statement of claim, despite already publicising the proceedings.
A leading law firm has called for a closer look at the increasing involvement of short sellers in shareholder class actions, saying any review that flows from the current inquiry should examine whether short sellers should be allowed to join the legal proceedings.
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