A prominent Melbourne lawyer and his wife have been restrained from acting in a property dispute, after a judge found they misled the court and facilitated a false settlement in favour of their clients.
In reasons for approving a $41 million deal to settle one of three shareholder class actions over Slater & Gordon’s acquisition of a UK firm and awarding the funder 28 per cent, a judge has challenged a persistent notion that the interests of litigation funders and group members are at odds.
A judge has approved a $450,000 penalty against Australian Mines in ASIC proceedings brought after its managing director was allegedly caught lying at an investment conference about the value of an offtake agreement and funding for a project at its cobalt and nickel mine in Queensland.
A judge has dismissed a class action brought by a pensioner against the Department of Social Services over its real estate asset testing for pensions, citing his lack of legal representation.
Western Australian Liberal Senator Linda Reynolds has reportedly sued publisher HarperCollins and journalist Aaron Patrick for defamation over a book chapter which delved into Brittany Higgins’ rape allegations against former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann.
The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal has found a Melbourne barrister guilty of professional misconduct for making an unsubstantiated allegation of fraud in a costs dispute six years ago.
Former president of the Melbourne Football Club and Clayton Utz veteran Glen Bartlett has lost a bid to keep his defamation case against four MFC board members in Western Australia, with a judge finding the “relevant characters overwhelmingly continue to live in Melbourne.”
Sportsbet has won an injunction preventing the owner of the sportsbet.com domain from prosecuting an action in the US, which a judge said sought to interfere with an Australian domain name battle “in the most stark fashion.”
Hospitality giant Mantle Group has been found to have systematically ripped off employees and could face a federal police investigation for giving misleading evidence to the workplace umpire.
After initial qualms, a judge has signed off on a $29.5 million settlement in a class action against recycling company Sims that includes a “staggering” $8.5 million in legal costs and an insurance policy buffering the funder from adverse costs.