A request to a female senior engineer for WSP to “get the coffees” during a client meeting did not amount to gender-based harassment, the Fair Work Commission has found in rejecting the engineer’s unfair dismissal claim.
HWL Ebsworth has argued a former capital partner who was found to have been invalidly expelled in 2020 cannot claim a share of the law firm’s profits from then to now, saying he could not reap the benefits of partnership without the “burdens”.
Investment firm London City Equities is seeking to have fellow publicly traded firm Excelsior wound up for alleged shareholder oppression over its decision to sell off a subsidiary for $101 million and not distribute the proceeds.
A court has found Qoin cryptocurrency issuer BPS Financial made false and misleading claims about its product, in a win for the corporate regulator and a likely boost for a class action against the Gold Coast-based digital currency company.
A judge hearing a class action against the New South Wales government and police commissioner over allegedly illegal strip searches at music festivals has criticised the state for failing to comply with court orders on time.
The lead plaintiff in a four-year-old class action against Zurich Insurance over a defective New Zealand apartment block has said the case “has to get moving”, telling the court that property owners have not received payment since a $50 million judgment was awarded overseas in 2017.
A recently appointed High Court judge has warned against state and federal courts competing to attract cases, expressing concerns the appearance of impartiality could be compromised if courts sought to “drum up business at the expense of defendants”.
A judge on the Supreme Court of Victoria says he is a ‘convert’ on group costs orders, which allow law firms running class action to earn a cut of any settlement or judgment, saying GCOs will give better returns to group members and that conflicts can be managed.
Courts have taken differing views on whether they should order class closure, which requires group members to register for a class action, and the “deadlock” may require High Court intervention or legislative amendment to be resolved, an expert has said.
The judge overseeing Bruce Lehrmann’s failed defamation case against Network Ten has slammed as misleading comments that his judgment vindicated the broadcaster, and questioned whether the remarks disentitled it to maximum defence costs.