The son of the lawyer and funder at the centre of an alleged fee scandal in the Banksia Securities class action was not his father’s righthand man because the late Mark Elliott did not need a righthand man, his co-accused, former senior barrister Norman O’Bryan, has told a court.
A judge has again postponed signing off on a $1.9 million settlement in a $65 million sham contracting class action against fundraiser Appco Group after expressing “disquiet” about the deal in which the 1,100 group members would get “diddly squat” and ordered that notices be sent to group members informing them of their option to seek alternative lawyers.
A $50 million settlement has been reached in a long-running shareholder class action against defunct vocational training company Vocation that also spawned multiple cross-claims against the failed company’s auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers, law firm Johnson Winter & Slattery and individual directors.
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu is seeking to strike out the misleading and deceptive conduct claims in a $4 million age discrimination lawsuit brought by a former partner, calling them “farcical” and “absurd”.
Google is seeking to assuage ACCC concerns that its planned $3 billion acquisition of fitness device company Fitbit would further entrench its market power by giving it access to a treasure trove of user data, promising the regulator that it will not use data collected through wearables for advertising purposes for at least 10 years.
Logistics services provider Qube has resolved a lawsuit that accused the Port of Newcastle of misusing its power in the market for port services by denying Qube’s request to use its own equipment to provide dry bulk unloading services at the port.
A unit of telecommunications contractor Tandem has lost an appeal in its fight over the validity of a sham contracting class action by technicians alleging they were misclassified as contractors and wrongly denied benefits.
PricewaterhouseCoopers is seeking to strike out a lawsuit brought by a former director who claims her notice of termination was invalid because it was delivered through DocuSign.
A judge has confined the scope of questions lawyers can ask disgraced senior barrister Norman O’Bryan when he takes the stand this week to give evidence for the son of the mastermind behind an alleged fee scam in the Banksia Securities class action.
A court has found that insurer Youi breached its duty of utmost good faith by taking two years to settle a home owner’s hail storm claim.
For information on rights and reprints, contact subscriptions@lawyerly.com.au
