331-340 of 340 results
Federal Court orders disclosure of class action respondent's insurance policies, affirming a recent trend
In the Radio Rentals Class Action, the Federal Court of Australia has ordered - over the objection of an Insurer - that a respondent disclose its insurance policies to the applicant. ...
Queensland Supreme Court refuses to order disclosure of class action defendant's insurance policy, providing further guidance on the making of such orders
The Queensland Supreme Court has refused an application by a class action plaintiff seeking to compel the defendant to disclose its insurance policy and documents relating to its insurance position. In doing so, the court commented on the recent Federal Court decision in the Radio Rentals class action but came to a different result on the facts. This decision shows that when determining whether or not to make an order for disclosure, the court is likely to take into account the defendant's financial capacity, and may be less likely to make such an order where the defendant's solvency is not a concern. ...
Australia's Modern Slavery Act – one year on
Australia's modern slavery reporting regime was introduced one year ago, and 2020 will see the first set of modern slavery statements published by reporting entities. ...
Take Two: anti-bribery reforms revived and long-awaited draft regulatory guidance released
The Australian Government has tabled the Crimes Amendment (Combatting Corporate Crime) Bill 2019 (the 2019 Bill) in the Senate, and the Attorney-General's Department has released Draft Guidance on the steps a body corporate can take to prevent an associate from bribing foreign public officials for public consultation (the Draft Guidance). Like the 2017 version of the Bill that lapsed earlier this year (the 2017 Bill), if passed, the 2019 Bill will strengthen Australia's foreign bribery laws, including by introducing a new corporate offence of failure to prevent bribery by an associate, and will introduce a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) scheme for resolving serious corporate criminal matters. Partner Rachel Nicolson, Senior Associate Andrew Wilcock and Associate Lewis Winter report on the key differences between the 2017 and 2019 Bills, and the content of the Draft Guidance. ...
Court takes an expansive view of threshold requirement for class actions against multiple respondents
A representative proceeding can only be commenced where seven or more group members have claims against the same person In proceedings with multiple respondents there has been conflicting authority as to whether each group member is required to have a claim against each respondent Last week in Cash ...
Babcock & Brown - a market disclosure claim decided
The Federal Court has dismissed shareholders claims against Babcock Brown alleging failure to disclose market sensitive information The court made important findings on the scope of listed entities continuous disclosure obligations in the context of accounting irregularities and potential insolvency ...
More (good) Queensland property law changes (inc. up to 20% deposits!!)
Further amendments to existing property legislation that aims to streamline the sale of property particularly in respect of the sale of off-the-plan lots have been introduced into the Queensland Parliament These amendments will be of substantial benefit to developers Partner Alister Fitzgerald ...
Amendments reduce compliance burden for ASX-listed NZ companies
ASX has released a number of proposed amendments to the ASX Foreign Exempt Listing Rules that will significantly lower both the ongoing compliance burden and the admission thresholds for New Zealand companies already listed or seeking a listing on ASX Partner Robert Pick Senior Associate Georgie ...
Decision confirms limits on general meeting shareholder activism
A recent Federal Court of Australia decision has reaffirmed that a companys board of directors has the primary role in managing a company and that there are limits on shareholders legal ability to control that management Partner and Co-Leader of Allens Head Office Governance team Greg Bosmans and ...
The fiduciary duty of mortgage brokers?
There is lots of noise about the duties of financial advisers and lawyers including us love to debate whether FoFA has left any room for fiduciary obligations ...