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 Sydney barrister who charged $349,360 after giving an estimate of $60,000 for work on a bankruptcy case has lost his bid for a costs review after his fee was slashed, with a judge finding his client could not make an informed choice about her representation.
The son of the lawyer behind the Banksia Securities class action has effectively abandoned his appeal of a court judgment that found he knowingly and actively assisted his father in a fraudulent scheme to pocket almost $20 million in inflated fees and commission.
A $1.5 million class action settlement against failed logistics provider GetSwift, which a judge termed a “disaster”, has been revised down to $1 million and may face a liquidators’ challenge that could see a group members recover nothing.
Insurer Bond & Credit Company is seeking to join Greensill Group to three lawsuits over the financing firm’s $1.7 billion collapse in March 2020, while Greensill has foreshadowed its own cross-claims against Insurance Australia Group.
The judge whose ruling against the legal team behind the Banksia class action fraud helped redeem the battered reputation of the civil justice system may be asked to disqualify himself from the final fight in the drawn out case.
The High Court has dismissed an application by accounting giant KPMG to transfer a class action over the collapse of mining company Arrium from Victoria to NSW.
Liquidators of failed tech company GetSwift have foreshadowed an objection to a $1.5 million settlement going to shareholders in a class action that a judge has labelled a “disaster”.
Former CEO of failed van Eyk Research has been sentenced to 15 months’ imprisonment after admitting he breached his duties as director of a subsidiary to dishonestly retain control of the company.
Dead or broke, the class action lawyers who schemed to defraud investors in failed Banksia Securities should not escape a $21 million judgment for damages and costs, a court has heard.