Judgment

The owners corporation for an apartment complex in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda has lost its adverse possession claim over a tennis court mostly located on adjoining land, with a judge finding their use of the property was subject to a lease. 

A judge has ordered the lead applicant in a failed class action against Queensland utilities Stanwell and CS Energy, which was slated to be worth $1 billion, to pay $32.4 million in costs.

A tribunal has refused to terminate a lease for a dairy farm in Raleigh, NSW and declined to order $500,000 in compensation over claims the tenants are responsible for deterioration in the property, including the “uncontrolled infestation” of a noxious weed. 

A judge has ordered Australian Unity to pay a $7.1 million penalty in ASIC proceedings alleging it pumped more than $9.5 million into a risky mortgage scheme without properly vetting investors. 

A judge has allowed a shareholder class action over the collapse of asset manager Blue Sky to bring insider trading claims against several short sellers, as well as brokers Credit Suisse and Argonaut Securities. 

A judge has ordered ANZ to pay $250 million in penalties in four cases by ASIC – $10 million more than the bank had agreed to pay – saying ANZ had "substantially deceived” the government by overstating bond trading volumes.

Plus500 has lost its bid to permanently stay a class action by investors who lost money trading in highly leveraged financial products, with a court finding that the arbitration clause relied on by the online trader was unfair and void.

A Sydney developer has successfully challenged a decision which rejected its plans to demolish a 32-room boarding house for the construction of four luxury residences in Paddington, with a judge calling the decision "personal and idiosyncratic".

Law firm Atanaskovic Hartnell can't appeal a stay of a costs order in its dispute with media mogul Bruce Gordon, with an appeals court saying disputes fuelled by their “mutual animus” should not be encouraged. 

The Federal Court has dismissed Walter Sofronoff KC’s legal challenge to the ACT Integrity Commission findings that he engaged in corrupt conduct in his inquiry into the prosecution of Bruce Lehrmann.