Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting has lost its bid to avoid producing documents to Bianca Rinehart and John Hancock after a judge rejected arguments the Rinehart children were abusing the court’s processes in a long-running dispute over ownership of a valuable mining tenement.
Hancock Prospecting has lost a bid to shut down court cases brought by fellow mining giants Wright Prospecting and DFD Rhodes until the outcome of a family arbitration, after a judge found the company’s own forensic choices made the risk of inconsistent decisions inevitable.
ASIC has lost a case accusing the Commonwealth Bank of Australia of hitting customers with $55 million in unauthorised fees, with a judge finding that nearly 1 million customers charged the fees should have known that even banks “sometimes make mistakes”.
The High Court has ruled that the “direct and far-reaching ramifications” of a contract between the federal government and Tasmania’s two major airports justifies an order for declaratory relief sought by local councils about the obligation of the airports’ operators to pay rates.
Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting has failed to persuade a court to hold an expanded separate trial on the alleged wrongdoing of the mining magnate in a spat over the Hope Downs iron ore mine, with a judge finding the proposal could extend the already ten-year legal battle.
Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting has avoided a discovery order that would cost an estimated $3 million to comply with, with a judge instead ordering that limited discovery be given to two Rinehart children in an ongoing family dispute over titles for the Hope Down iron ore mine.
The Supreme Court of Western Australia has thrown out a lawsuit against billionaire mining heiress Angela Bennett and her brother Michal Wright over the estate of their father, mining magnate Peter Wright, despite finding the siblings breached their fiduciary duty and engaged in deceit and fraud.
The High Court has rejected special leave applications by mining magnate Gina Rinehart to appeal a ruling which only partially stayed a legal dispute over ownership rights and royalties relating to the Rinehart family-owned Hope Downs iron ore mine, with one judge calling the mining magnate’s arguments a “tortured articulation” and “very odd”.
Two former executives of mining giant Rio Tinto accused by ASIC of breaching their directors duties have asked the court to vacate an upcoming trial, after raising concerns that COVID-19 could affect their ability to appear.
A seven-week trial in ASIC’s misleading conduct case against Rio Tinto may have to be postponed after two executives of the mining giant raised concerns that COVID-19 could impact their ability to appear as defendants in the case.