A group of banks that failed to prove steel giant Arrium falsified representations on loan drawdown notices ahead of its $2.8 billion collapse have been ordered to pay indemnity costs after a court found they rejected $10 million settlement offers three days into the trial.
Payday lender Nimble has succeeded in blocking its largest shareholder from accessing company documents relating to an impending debt refinance, with a judge finding the company’s financial woes were due to COVID-19 and not improper conduct by management.
A judge has knocked back Colonial First State’s bid to warn around 100,000 group members that even if they opt out of a class action against the wealth management firm they might still be bound by the outcome of the case.
A judge has appointed seven sample group members in a class action by taxi and hire car drivers against Uber, saying they would provide additional information about the regulatory environment in different states and bring focus to the trial.
Herbert Smith Freehills this week escaped a cross-claim that its advice made it liable for the alleged losses of Arrium’s lenders, but the judge who tossed the claim along with the banks’ cases expressed doubts about one of the law firm’s key arguments, a warning to other firms caught up in litigation as so-called concurrent wrongdoers.
A judge has dismissed two cases brought by the Commonwealth Bank, Westpac and other lenders against directors of the failed steel giant Arrium, saying he was not satisfied the directors’ representations on loan drawdown notices were false or that the company was insolvent when it went into voluntary administration in April 2016.
Small business owners who turned to the Bank of Queensland for financial assistance were subject to unfair contract terms that created a “significant imbalance” in the rights of the bank and its customers, a court has held.
Administrators have lined up a buyer for a Forum Group entity, as a first creditors meeting confirms Westpac has the largest claim to any recoveries after an alleged $400 million fraud by the equipment leasing company.
The lead applicant in a Maurice Blackburn-led class action against superannuation provider Colonial First State wants the Full Court to determine whether group members still have valid claims, after a judgment from the Victoria Supreme Court shut down a similar class action last year.
With $254 million at stake, Westpac wants a court order blocking the business partner of Forum Group founder Bill Papas from leaving Australia, as Papas remains in Greece while fraud allegations swirl.