The recent Great Southern class action settlement included a term by which group members acknowledged and admitted that loans taken out with independent financiers to finance investments in Great Southern managed investment schemes were valid and enforceable Two separate Victorian Supreme Court ...

The Queensland Supreme Court has held that mining leases did not constitute an interest in land for the purposes of the former land rich duty regime While subsequent amendments to the Duties Act 2001 Qld mean that mining tenements are now treated as an interest in land the decision provides much ...

The High Court yesterday overturned a decision of the Full Court of the Federal Court and held that if the same loss is caused by both apportionable and non-apportionable claims proportionate liability does not apply to the non-apportionable claims The High Court also ordered that the defendants ...

The High Court today held that parties and regulators are permitted to put before the court an agreed position as to the value of a penalty reached as part of a settlement agreement Our Regulatory team reports ...

The Victorian Court of Appeal has refused an application for leave to appeal against the enforcement of an arbitral award The applicants applied for leave to appeal on the basis that enforcement of the award would be contrary to public policy as it would give effect to double recovery by the ...

ASIC has released a report looking at the way vertically integrated funds management businesses deal with conflicts of interest The report summarises the findings of ASICs recent review of a number of businesses and sets out some good practice recommendations Partner Marc Kemp and Senior Associate ...

The Government released a discussion paper on the Objective of Superannuation today The paper says that the Government will enshrine in legislation the primary objective recommended by the Financial System Inquiry being To provide income in retirement to substitute or supplement the Age Pension ...

Perhaps the most important unanswered question in Australian class action law has been how causation may be established in a shareholder class action After more than a decade of uncertainty the Supreme Court of NSW has ruled that shareholders can prove causation by establishing that the price of the ...

In a recent Federal Court decision Justice Murphy refused to approve the settlement agreement between the parties to the Willmott class action finding that the terms of the settlement were not fair and reasonable ...

The Queensland Parliament has passed the Chain of Responsibility Bill with important amendments prior to enactment The amending Act establishes a new regime under the States primary environmental legislation that exposes related bodies corporate executive officers financiers shareholders and a ...