The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has been hit with another class action for allegedly pushing insurance policies with excessive premiums onto customers.
International direct marketing company Aida Sales and Marketing has settled a multimillion-dollar group action accusing it of engaging in wage theft and sham contracting.
The lead applicant in a shareholder class action against Crown Resorts will ask the Federal Court to declare the proceedings a priority matter so that lawyers readying the case for an upcoming trial in Melbourne can access childcare despite stage 4 COVID-19 restrictions in Victoria.
An independent costs consultant retained to assess the legal fees sought to be recouped from a settlement in a class action over the collapse of Banksia Securities has denied he was the “dogsbody” of funder Mark Elliott during a fiery cross examination at trial over the costs of the litigation.
A week after silk Norman O’Bryan dropped his defence against allegations of misconduct in the running of a class action over the failure of Banksia Securities, his junior counsel, Michael Symons, has also conceded defeat, telling a court he too should be struck off the practitioners’ roll.
Barrister Norman O’Bryan has accepted that he should be struck from the roll of legal practitioners after dropping his defence mid-trial against claims of professional misconduct as senior counsel for a class action financed by the late Mark Elliott, but the consequences for the once high-flying silk might not end there.
Receivers appointed in the wake of the collapse of Banksia Securities may seek costs orders against the estate of deceased funder and class action lawyer Mark Elliott, a court has heard. Meanwhile, the Victorian Bar says it has “every confidence in the judicial process” after senior counsel Norman O’Bryan yesterday abandoned his defence of misconduct allegations stemming from the case.
Barrister Norman O’Bryan SC has abandoned his defence of misconduct allegations stemming from the Banksia Securities class action and expressed contrition to the court for his actions.
Media companies that are fighting defamation proceedings over articles that accused decorated war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith of war crimes have won court permission to amend their defence to include evidence the soldier was involved in another alleged murder.
Shine Lawyers is investigating two new class actions against Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Westpac’s BT Funds Management over allegedly excessive insurance premiums, a week after filing a similar case against AMP’s life insurance arm.