Gladstone Ports has won access to draft expert reports prepared by Clyde & Co in its $100 million class action against the Queensland government owned organisation, with a judge ruling the documents were not privileged despite their not being used in the case.
Liberal Democrat Senator David Leyonhjelm has lost his challenge to a ruling that denied his request for speedy dismissal of a defamation lawsuit by Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young on the grounds of Parliamentary privilege.
A judge has recused herself from hearing a lawsuit brought against Norton Rose Fulbright by a former partner, two months after the judge that was initially assigned to the matter dodged a recusal bid by reallocating the case.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has appealed a ruling that two Westpac units did not provide personal financial advice as part of a campaign encouraging customers to roll over external superannuation accounts.
Canadian generic manufacturer Apotex has agreed to drop its lawsuit against India’s Cipla seeking to invalidate its Australian patent for popular nasal spray Dymista.
Law firm Slater and Gordon is investigating a class action against hospitals for encouraging “excessive and unsafe” work hours by doctors, some of whom the firm found routinely work up to 100 hours per week.
ASIC will soon have more ammunition to go after corporate wrongdoers, after the Senate passed legislation that arms the regulator to seek harsher civil and criminal sanctions against banks, their executives and others that breach the corporate and financial services law.
A product liability class action has been filed against the manufacturers of Alucobond PE cladding, the first of what’s expected to be several lawsuits over the combustible cladding, believed to be in the majority of buildings in Australia.
The Federal Government is proposing changes to right of entry rules that would require permits to be issued in photo ID format, in a bid to curb abuse by “militant” union officials.
GM Holden has lost most of its case for design infringement against a company that imported and distributed spare car parts used to “up-spec” lower range Holden models, in the court’s first test of the Designs Act’s repair defence.