Appeals

A federal judge has signed off on a funding agreement in an employment class action against Airservices, even as he acknowledged a pending challenge to a landmark ruling that established the right of the court to make a common fund order.

Westpac is challenging a judge's order that gives the funder backing a class action over life insurance premiums a 25 percent cut of any recovery.

The High Court of Australia has rejected an appeal of a ruling that found a funeral insurer was liable for the use of a rival's confidential information by employees and instead granted a cross-appeal that more than doubled the rival's award of profits.

The High Court has granted an appeal to a Norton Rose Fulbright-represented man who claimed more than 900g of marijuana found at his house was for personal use, repealing his conviction for drug possession after new evidence emerged that may have changed the course of his trial in 2013.

Viterra has been hit with costs for persisting with a special leave application to the High Court seeking to compel Cargill to turn over emails exchanged with its lawyers at Allens during the sale of its Joe White Maltings business, even after Cargill agreed to waive privilege and produced the documents.

A native title challenge to Adani Mining's controversial $16 billion development of the Carmichael coal mine in Queensland has been revived, with a group of Indigenous Australians appealing a ruling that tossed their case.

Mortgage aggregator Connective Group has lost an appeal of a ruling that gave the greenlight to a shareholder's derivative lawsuit against company directors and Macquarie Bank over the sale of 25 percent of the business to the bank.

The litigation funder that unsuccessfully sought to block a shareholder from opposing a $64 million class action settlement over the collapse of Banksia Securities is not on the hook for indemnity costs despite bringing the injunction with an ulterior motive.

Auditing firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu wants to challenge a ruling that forces some of its partners to hand over evidence to  shareholders in a class action over accounting work for collapsed engineering company Hastie Group.

The corporate watchdog has won special leave to appeal to the High Court a ruling that found a general store owner in outback South Australia who sold cars by "book up" had not acted unconscionably.