A judge has given a “judicial harrumph” to Sydney developer FKP Commercial Developments and Irish insurer Zurich Insurance in a dispute over coverage for an apartment defects suit, saying it was not for the court to “trawl” through an insurance policy to work out its meaning.
The law firm that lost the first ever application for a group costs order in class actions against ANZ and Westpac has indicated it will revive its bid, tweaking a retainer agreement with group members in hopes of winning the court’s approval this time.
The former CEO of failed electronics retailer Dick Smith should be held responsible for approving two dividend payments worth $28.5 million which the company could not afford to pay given it owed millions in unpaid bank loans and supplier debts, an appeals court has heard.
Shareholders bringing a class action against Quintis have lost their bid for Ernst & Young to hand over documents from two meetings with a director of the sandalwood supplier, after a judge found they did not get “within a bull’s roar” of showing the accounting firm’s discovery was inadequate.
The law firms and barristers who defended former Dick Smith directors in sprawling litigation over the failure of the electronics retailer earned close to $68 million in fees, a court has heard.
The CDPP’s decision to drop all criminal cartel charges against two banks and four individuals in a “test case” over a $2.5 billion ANZ share placement shows the ACCC “lacks expertise and objectivity” on the financial markets and should leave them to ASIC to regulate, according to one of the former accused.
In a stunning reversal, the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecution has dropped all criminal cartel charges against two investment banks and four individuals in relation to a $2.5 billion ANZ share placement, four years after the charges were brought following an allegedly questionable investigation by the ACCC.
National Australia Bank and HSBC should be “jointly and severally liable” to pay a portion of the costs of a failed case brought by Dick Smith’s receivers against the company’s former directors because the banks stood to gain financially if the lawsuit was successful, the NSW Supreme Court has heard.
A judge has ruled he will not consider a separate question on whether Acciona is barred from setting off any damages payable to Lendlease in a lawsuit over the $160 million sale of its engineering business.
Dick Smith’s former CFO will appeal a $43 million judgment in favour of National Australia Bank over his role in the retailer’s collapse.