A $19.6 million legal bill racked up by the law firm behind two 7-Eleven class actions accusing the convenience store chain of misleading franchisees did not warrant the appointment of a contradictor to a hearing seeking approval of a $98 million settlement, a court has heard.
A court has tossed a lawsuit by Clive Palmer’s Mineralogy against ASIC, calling it an “ill-disguised collateral attack” against the regulator over criminal proceedings against the billionaire mining magnate over $12 million in payments made to his political party in 2013.
Two Westpac units have been hit with $10.5 million in fines for providing personal financial advice during a superannuation rollover campaign, with a barrister for ASIC noting the bank had not apologised or expressed regret for the conduct.
The Australian Bar Association has criticised “flawed” methodology used to analyse the competency of judges, weighing in on controversy over the Australian Law Reform Commission’s handling of a submission to its judicial impartiality inquiry.
The applicant in a Federal Court class action against NAB superannuation trustee NULIS has been ordered to find a sample group member in light of a landmark Victoria Supreme Court ruling that found the plaintiff in a similar class action could not establish any loss.
The Full Court has thrown out a victory by Crown Resorts in a $100 million dispute over GST assessments on commissions and rebates paid to tour operators that directed international VIP gamblers to two of its casinos.
A judge has criticised the liquidators of collapsed financial group Linchpin Capital after they failed to inform the court whether they intend to defend class action proceedings or if default judgment should be made against the company.
Convenience store giant 7-Eleven has agreed to pay $98 million to settle two class actions accusing it of misleading franchisees, the largest class action settlement reached so far this year.
Herbert Smith Freehills this week escaped a cross-claim that its advice made it liable for the alleged losses of Arrium’s lenders, but the judge who tossed the claim along with the banks’ cases expressed doubts about one of the law firm’s key arguments, a warning to other firms caught up in litigation as so-called concurrent wrongdoers.
US-based chemical and materials technology company Cytec Industries has won its Federal Court challenge to a mining patent application by a unit of Ecolab, with the court finding the claims in the patent lacked support and sufficient disclosure.