Events

Doomed iron and steel giant Arrium attempted to stave off its inevitable $2.8 billion collapse and put off negotiating with its lenders until the last minute despite warnings from its legal and financial advisors, liquidators for the company told the court.

A former financial planner of IOOF unit RI Advice, who has been accused by ASIC of pocketing hefty commissions from clients steered to risky investments, has abandoned his defence on the second day of trial.

A financial adviser at the centre of ASIC's bad advice case against an IOOF unit might mount an argument that a fair trial is not possible because of his "fulsome" answers to investigators during a compulsory examination.

Directors of steel producer Arrium continued to borrow money from "vulnerable" lenders in the months prior to the company's $2.8 billion collapse and "bled cash" despite the inevitable end, a number of lenders have said on the first day of a 40-day trial in the NSW Supreme Court.

ASIC's warning about the futility of mediation with an IOOF subsidiary has proved prophetic, with talks last week failing to resolve the regulator's case ahead of trial starting Monday.

A lawyer who a judge accused of "abysmal arrogance and sense of privilege" has won her appeal of a ruling ordering her to pay $360,000 to her Balmain neighbour after a long-running property dispute culminated in an allegedly defamatory interview that was broadcast to over one million TV viewers on A Current Affair.

Ticket reseller Viagogo is seeking a stay of a $7 million penalty in litigation brought by the ACCC in light of the "catastrophic effect" of the COVID-19 pandemic, as the company appeals a court's finding that it misled customers on an "industrial scale".

The Transport Workers Union is calling on the government to regulate the gig economy in the wake of a unanimous ruling from the UK Supreme Court that found Uber drivers are not independent contractors but workers with the right to entitlements.

Two Clive Palmer companies have again been blocked from accessing documents held by two law firms and a litigation funder to pursue a potential lawsuit against Queensland Nickel, with an appeal court dismissing the bid as "unmeritorious".

Law firm Atanaskovic Hartnell has failed to postpone its appeal of a ruling over unpaid legal fees until after its senior counsel -- who is stuck in London -- can get a COVID-19 vaccine and return to Australia.