Lawyerly’s Litigation Law Firms of 2022 racked up precedent-setting victories in a year that continued to see major developments in class action law.
King & Wood Mallesons has denied the claims in a lawsuit by defunct stockbroker Halifax Investment Services alleging it failed to advise it of an obligation to hold client funds on trust, and has said another law firm should also take the blame if it is found negligent.
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has urged the Full Court to toss ASIC’s challenge to a decision dismissing its conflicted remuneration case over the bank’s sale of its Essential Super product, saying the appeal suffered from “fatal” flaws.
Sixteen law firms and accounting firms have thrown their hat in the ring to administer a $300 million settlement in two class actions against Johnson & Johnson over pelvic mesh devices that injured thousands of women.
GetSwift has been hit with a $15M penalty and several of its directors have been slapped with substantial penalties after the company was found to have misled shareholders in breach of the Corporations Act.
Hyundai and Kia have been hit with new class actions alleging the Korean car makers knew of engine issues in cars sold in Australia as far back as 2015.
Liquidators for collapsed forestry giant Gunns Plantations have lost a High Court appeal over $1.2 million in payments to a former supplier that confirmed the so-called peak indebtedness rule does not apply in Australian insolvency law.
A judge has grilled the former general counsel of defunct logistics company GetSwift about why he did not confront the company’s directors for “bullying” other executives when they raised concerns about alleged continuous disclosure breaches.
From the ongoing saga of the high-profile Christian Porter action against the ABC to “backyard” litigation testing the serious harm bar, defamation cases made headlines in 2022, with winners and losers alike shelling out millions to lawyers to protect their reputations.
An investor class action against RCR Tomlinson has reached a walk-away settlement agreement with two former directors of the failed engineering company.