A judge has consolidated two concurrent cases against the former directors and auditors of collapsed construction company Forge Group, after warning the overlapping actions needed to be carefully managed to avoid it becoming an “unrideable bull”.
Norton Rose Fulbright will have to wait another six months before a long-running dispute with a former partner will be heard, after the ex-employee successfully argued it would be “ludicrous” for the trial to proceed.
WorleyParsons has abandoned its mid-trial application to shut down a shareholder class action, amid uncertainty about whether the engineering company would be required to surrender its right to call reply evidence if it continued with its submission that it has no case to answer.
A judge has thrown out an unlawful dismissal case brought by former HWL Ebsworth special counsel against the firm, describing his arguments as “trivial” and “wholly unrealistic”.
Counsel for WorleyParsons has denied the engineering firm’s attempt to end a shareholder class action mid-trial would be the start of a “brave new world” of no-case bids in representative proceedings, saying this was a rare instance of a case with “no chance of success”.
A Sydney law firm has been ordered to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation and restitution for breach of its fiduciary duties, after a former client successfully appealed a conflict of interest case.
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.
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”.
Biotech company Cryosite has agreed to a $1 million settlement for losses resulting from legal advice received in relation to a merger agreement that left the company facing $1.05 million in penalties for engaging in cartel conduct.
Agricultural fund manager Rural Funds Group has briefed a top-tier law firm to bring “unprecedented” legal action against US company Bonitas Research, after the activist short seller accused the group of fraud and sent its share price plummeting.