Billionaire Kerry Stokes has lost his challenge to paying in lump sum Fairfax’s legal fees in defending Ben Roberts-Smith’s failed defamation case over war crimes allegations, having argued for an itemised bill after the Seven West Media chair agreed to foot the costs on an indemnity basis.
A lip reading expert has given evidence of his interpretation of CCTV footage at a bar on the night Bruce Lehrmann allegedly raped Brittany Higgins, saying he “encouraged” her to finish drinks, a claim the former Liberal staffer has denied.
A judge has rejected a top orthopaedic surgeon’s bid to uncover the names of 13 sources who gave information to a Nine journalist, preferring the public interest in protecting the sources’ identities and noting their fears of reprisals by the Sydney surgeon.
Two law firms running competing class actions against Qantas over flight cancellations during the COVID-19 pandemic have agreed to cooperate after a judge took them to task for revising their funding positions in the lead up to a courtroom battle.
Honda Australia has been hit with a $6 million penalty for misleading communications made to customers of three dealerships during a restructuring in which the car maker’s shuttered its independent dealer network in favour of an agency model.
A judge overseeing the trial in Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case against Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson has asked to see the legal advice Wilkinson received before giving her Logies acceptance speech last year, saying it was “inconceivable” any lawyer would have approved it.
ANZ will appeal a ruling that it breached its continuous disclosure obligations when it failed to inform the ASX of a bailout by the underwriters of a 2015 institutional share placement.
The Full Federal Court has found that Telstra can be sued for a former employee’s alleged sexual harassment of his neighbours, finding harassment that is part of a private dispute may also occur in the course of providing services.
Grocon has lost yet another argument over documents in its lawsuit against Infrastructure NSW over a stalled $2 billion Central Barangaroo development project, with a judge rejecting its bid to access material over which the government agency claimed privilege and public interest immunity.
Group members will walk away with nothing under a settlement in a seven-year old class action against the Commonwealth Bank of Australia on behalf of borrowers who claimed they were forced to default on their commercial loans.