The law firm running class actions against ANZ and Westpac has been pulled up for claiming confidentiality over a solicitor’s affidavits on the costs incurred by the applicants since the court approved settlements in the cases.
ASIC has won its bid to appoint receivers to a managed investment scheme run by Keystone Asset Management after expressing “grave concerns” that investor funds were used to pay sports stars and buy a $4.3 million home for its former director.
A judge has thrown out a defamation case by John Peros, the former boyfriend of Shandee Blackburn, over a podcast by The Australian dealing with her murder, finding he did not suffer serious harm from the publication.
A judge has granted broad discovery to a shareholder class action against IAG over COVID-related disclosures, saying the documents sought were relevant to determining the likelihood the insurer knew of the risk that it would have to pay out business interruption claims covered by polices that referenced defunct legislation.
Transurban has reached a confidential settlement in a case by an employee alleging sexual harassment, the second employment suit the toll road operator has resolved this month by a female worker.
A former financial advisor at the now-defunct Growth Plus Financial Group has been convicted on 28 counts of fraud and jailed for 12 years for defrauding clients of $6 million, in conduct a judge described as “evil” and “systematic”.
A class action trial has heard that allegedly flammable Alucobond panels provided by 3A Composites and supplier Halifax Vogel are comparable to petrol and could present an “insurmountable challenge” to containing a fire.
BlueScope Steel is seeking to overturn a record $57.5 million penalty for engaging in attempted price-fixing with flat steel distributors, telling an appeals court that it was simply trying to make its competitors understand “it was in their interests to price differently”.
A PricewaterhouseCoopers partner has reached a settlement in a case alleging she was involved in a $3.3 million scheme to defraud her husband’s employer.
A three-day penalty hearing in action against payday lenders BSF Solutions and Cigno — in which ASIC is seeking a multi-million dollar fine — has been put on ice until after a challenge to a finding that they were unlicensed credit providers.
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