Sam Hay

Silk and former chair of the state's legal watchdog Sam Hay KC is the latest judicial appointee to Victoria's Supreme Court, joining the bench at a time when the court's docket is bulging.

The High Court has agreed to review a ruling that upheld an easement of prescription -- or right of long use -- in a fight between a member of the prominent Valmorbida family and an entity linked to the founder of collapsed construction group Steller over access to a Sorrento property.

Victoria may appeal a decision in a class action that found police unlawfully deployed pepper spray at a 2019 protest, a court has heard, as the state loses a bid to avoid the applicant's full legal costs.

The lead applicant in a class action challenging Victoria Police's use of capsicum spray during a protest over the International Mining and Resources Conference in 2019 has been awarded $54,000 in damages.

A judge has handed Knowmore Legal an early loss in a negligence case by a former client, finding the client was barred from bringing further sexual abuse claims by accepting an offer under the national redress scheme.

The Western Bulldogs football club has lost its bid to avoid a jury trial in a second lawsuit by a fan alleging he was sexually abused as a boy by a club volunteer in the 1980s.

Mid-trial amendments to a class action over Victoria Police use of pepper spray on environmental protesters in 2019 claim officers deployed the spray knowing and intending that it would harm the activists.

Victoria Police’s use of pepper spray to disperse environmental protesters at a 2019 mining conference was a “total overreach” of force, a court has heard.

Defending a class action brought over Victoria Police’s use of force against protestors at a mining conference in 2019, the state has told a court the case would centre on when peaceful protesting crosses a line.

The state of Victoria is resisting a class action’s bid to identify police officers recorded using capsicum spray against protestors at a mining conference in 2019.