Companies

A former JPMorgan managing director has said the three investment banks at the centre of an alleged cartel made individual decisions to trade “gently” in ANZ shares but were conscious of their fellow underwriters' risks following a botched share placement in 2015.

A Nyamal man mistakenly identified by the Seven Network as the suspect in the abduction of four-year-old Cleo Smith in Western Australia is suing the broadcaster for defamation.

Former Liberal power broker Marcus Bastiaan has told a court he will seek an injunction to prevent investigative journalist Nick McKenzie from “door-knocking and harassing” witnesses in a defamation lawsuit over an explosive 60 Minutes report.

The lead applicant in a shareholder class action over Slater & Gordon’s disastrous $1.2 billion Quindell acquisition has said he might have “dumped” his stock before the firm experienced massive losses in 2016 if not for Pitcher Partners and Ernst & Young’s allegedly faulty advice.

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.

The legal market has experienced unprecedented growth during the last year despite the coronavirus pandemic, but law firms are “battling” to retain and hire lawyers, a CBA report has found.

Accounting firm Pitcher Partners was “solely responsible” for giving allegedly negligent advice about Slater & Gordon’s disastrous $1.2 billion Quindell acquisition ahead of the law firm’s massive losses in 2016, Ernst & Young has argued at trial in a long-running class action by the firm’s shareholders.

A Victoria Supreme Court judge has admonished Maurice Blackburn and Slater & Gordon for their less than speedy progress in a consolidated shareholder class action against Treasury Wine Estates, after hearing that evidence would not be filed by the plaintiffs until the end of 2022.

Woolworths has agreed to pay $1.75 million in Adero Law's legal costs as part of a settlement of an underpayments class action which will see group members recoup any amounts they are owed in a separate proceeding brought by the Fair Work Ombudsman rather than the class action.

Forum Finance director Vincenzo Tesoriero wants to strike out Westpac's claims against him and has told a court he too is a victim of alleged fraudster Bill Papas, having sunk up to $9 million in the company.