The son of the lawyer and funder at the centre of an alleged fee scandal in the Banksia Securities class action was not his father’s righthand man because the late Mark Elliott did not need a righthand man, his co-accused, former senior barrister Norman O’Bryan, has told a court.
A judge has confined the scope of questions lawyers can ask disgraced senior barrister Norman O’Bryan when he takes the stand this week to give evidence for the son of the mastermind behind an alleged fee scam in the Banksia Securities class action.
Last-minute discovery of emails by the solicitor facing accusations of complicity in a fraudulent scheme by his father and the barristers leading a class action over the collapse of Banksia Securities has been labelled a “professional disgrace” that has twice delayed his trial.
The judge overseeing a trial over alleged misconduct by lawyers behind the Banksia class action has blasted a bid by disgraced senior counsel Norman O’Bryan to file a notice of proportionate liability ahead of his turn in the witness stand, saying the notice flew in the face of the barrister’s decision to concede defeat in the case.
A judge overseeing the misconduct trial in the Banksia Securities class action has rejected a bid by a lawyer for the deceased cost consultant in the case to separately determine whether a cause of action survives his death.
The son of Banksia class action funder Mark Elliott, who has been accused of complicity in a fraudulent scheme to maximise the profits of the lawyers in the case, was young and inexperienced and didn’t know his father’s conduct was wrong, his barrister has told a court.
Billionaire Clive Palmer has claimed that he wrote the lyrics to ‘Australia’s Not Gonna Cop It’ in the early hours of the morning while “deep in contemplation” at his bedside, telling the Federal Court that the song was inspired by the Peter Finch film ‘Network’ and not Twisted Sister’s rock anthem.
A judge has sided with Worley in a ruling tossing a class action after a trial alleged the engineering company misled shareholders and breached disclosure rules by issuing an overly positive earnings guidance of $322 million for the 2014 financial year.
Heavy metal singer Dee Snider has admitted under cross-examination that ‘O Come, All Ye Faithful’ influenced Twisted Sister’s rock anthem ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’ but denied that he had “borrowed” elements of the Christmas carol for the 1985 hit.
The judge overseeing professional misconduct claims against lawyers in the Banksia class action has denied Alex Elliott’s request to stay the case against him while he takes his recusal application to the Court of Appeal, branding the stay ‘an indulgence’.