It what has been a complex and long-running hearing costing millions, one of the defendants recently joined to the matter, lawyer Alex Elliott, had argued trial judge Supreme Court Justice John Dixon should recuse himself from the case, saying there was a likely apprehension of bias on his behalf.

Mr Elliott is the son of one of the original defendants to the matter, now-deceased lawyer Mark Elliott. He argued the language used by Justice Dixon could give a reasonable layperson cause to believe the judge may lack impartiality or possess a bias.

Justice Dixon used such phrases as 'hiding behind a tree' to describe Mr Elliott's action in helping his father's firm Australian Funding Partners Limited (AFPL), a class action funder, to set up a plan to win over a quarter of the Banksia Investors' likely settlement.

AFPL sought to claim $17 million of a proposed $64 million settlement through a scheme which involved, in part, invoicing the applicants for greatly inflated fees, misleading judges and hiding conflicts of interest.

Both Justice Dixon and the Court of Appeal found the grounds for Mr Elliott's appeal to be 'unfair and misplaced', and dismissed it.

Two of AFPL's principal lawyers, Norman O'Bryan QC and his junior counsel Michael Symons, previously agreed to drop their defences and fees claims and will be struck from the roll of legal practitioners in Victoria for their part in AFPL's plan.

In a further dark twist to a case which has included the deaths of several participants, a fifth party joined to the case as a defendant, AFPL cost consultant Peter Trimbos, has also died.

Mr Trimbos was part of a joinder hearing adding Mr Elliott and himself to the case in early September; he died later in the same month. His application to have any parties seeking orders against him file affidavits explaining their case before he would file his own defence was described by Justice Dixon as 'borderline offensive'.

Mr Elliott was excused from an order requiring him to give a 'full and frank' description of his role in AFPL's scheme. His lawyers successfully argued forcing Mr Elliott to file such an affidavit denied his right to the protection from self-incrimination, while his failure to file could be a contempt of court.

"He is between a rock and a hard place," his barrister Dr Catherine Button QC argued.

In October 2012, Banksia Securities Limited, a non-bank property lender, collapsed owing some $660 million to investors, including many retirees in regional and rural communities in Victoria. At the time of its collapse, Banksia owed approximately $663 million to approximately 15,622 debenture holders and had 956 loans outstanding to third party borrowers, totalling approximately $527 million.

Investors have received 89.5 cents in the dollar returned, while a remaining 10.5 cents and 6 cents lost interest may yet be claimed.

If you are seeing this message you are a loyal digital subscriber to The Courier, as we made this story available only to subscribers. Thank you very much for your support and allowing us to continue telling Ballarat's story. We appreciate your support of journalism in our great city.