Companies

A judge has blessed a law firm’s $16.6 million legal bill for running two franchisee class actions against 7-Eleven despite a contradictor’s argument that it had a “troubling” practice of deferring its fees to benefit the funder that bankrolled the cases. 

The applicants in a shareholder class action against KPMG and former directors of defunct mining company CuDeco might press for clarity on the question of common fund orders in light of a ruling Tuesday morning that further split the Federal Court on the issue.

Facing defamation claims by well-known surgeon Dr Munjed Al Muderis, Nine will call at least 27 witnesses and argue for the public interest of its coverage of allegations by patients of inadequate post-surgery care, a court has heard.

A court has heard that casino giants Crown and Star are likely to reach agreement with AUSTRAC as to liability in proceedings alleging “widespread and serious non-compliance” with anti-money and counter terrorism laundering laws.

A landmark Federal Court class action against private health insurer Medibank will be a test case for when privacy claims can sidestep the regulatory path, and whether group members can prove they suffered loss from exposure of their data.

Former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann was reasonably identifiable as Brittany Higgins' alleged rapist in an interview aired on Ten's The Project and articles published by News Corp Australia, according to court documents in defamation cases against the media companies.

Uber wants to trim a class action by taxi and hire drivers in four states over the introduction of UberX, saying the case lacks coherence.

Treasury Wine Estates has resolved proceedings against 'wine in a can' maker Barokes alleging the Melbourne-based company's patents are invalid and that it made "unjustified threats" against the Penfolds maker.

UGL Limited has agreed to pay $438,000 to settle a class action accusing the engineering company of underpaying casual aluminium construction and manufacturing workers over a three year-period.

Ashurst has bolstered its Sydney tax practice with the addition of two senior taxation lawyers from Deloitte.