Sam Matthews

Maurice Blackburn is seeking a 33 per cent cut of any settlement in a class action against Sportsbet, arguing that law firms "doing well" for themselves by running class actions is an inherent feature of the contingency fee scheme.

In a major loss for the Australian Taxation Office, a High Court majority has found an agreement between US soft drink giant PepsiCo and Schweppes Australia to sell brands such as Pepsi and Mountain Dew in Australia was not subject to a royalty withholding tax.

GFG unit Whyalla Ports has won its bid to rub out some expert evidence put forward by OneSteel about the costs of dismantling and removing assets from the site in their dispute over control of the assets at the South Australian port.

A judge has declined to order security in developer Gilridge Investments’ payment claim fight with Diamond Builders over a $5.3 million apartment project, saying the builder failed to show the penniless developer would not be able to cover its costs after completing the troubled project.

A judge has approved a 35 per cent group costs order in a shareholder class action against WiseTech, but said the relatively high rate could be revisited by the court at a later stage in the case. 

A Sydney accountant who was jailed in 2019 for perverting the course of justice has lost his latest battle with the tax office, with a judge tossing four taxation appeals by related entities after finding his evidence about over $21 million in wrongly claimed tax deductions was “entirely lacking in credibility”.

Rebel Sport owner Super Retail Group is facing a possible class action for allegedly underpaying staff at its stores since 2019.

The law firm running a shareholder class action against WiseTech is seeking a group costs order that would give it a 35 per cent cut of any settlement, arguing the relatively high rate was justified by the risks of running the case.

K&L Gates has bolstered its international arbitration practice group, appointing a multilingual Clifford Chance alumni to serve as partner.

The Reject Shop is fighting a class action’s bid to reconstitute an “empty” class in an underpayments case, saying it shouldn't be on the hook for tens of millions in claims because of a “basic legal error” by the applicant’s lawyers.