Judgment

A Melbourne law firm has been hit with a $48,840 penalty in a case by a junior lawyer who was required to work over 200 hours in three weeks, including several days and nights spent working around the clock in a hotel.

Resolving a split between courts, the High Court has confirmed that judges have power to make soft class closure orders, which require class action members to register before mediation to participate in any resulting settlement.

Famed restaurant chain Momofuku has lost its challenge to the ‘Momofuku’ word mark of instant noodle giant Nissin, with IP Australia finding consumers were not likely to be deceived or confused because of the different goods and services provided by the two companies.

Clive Palmer's Mineralogy can access the content of email inboxes of two senior executives at engineering firm CITIC in a feud over the $12 billion Sino Iron project in Western Australia’s Pilbara region. 

A judge has said Sydney firm Atanskovic Hartnell’s garnishee order was “entirely unacceptable” in a long-running fee fight with its former client, a company owned by media mogul Bruce Gordon. 

Lender WholeCap has lost its bid for a “break fee” and $430,000 in legal costs billed by King & Wood Mallesons associated with a term sheet for a proposed $66.1 million loan to a Harbour Land entity.

Alcoa has won a transfer pricing dispute with the Tax Office, with a tribunal rejecting the ATO's novel argument that Alcoa was not dealing at arm's length in selling alumina to a distributor that bribed Bahraini government officials.

A witness in the Ben Roberts-Smith case threatened to sue Nine and journalist Nick McKenzie, the Full Court has learned, as the former soldier seeks to reopen his appeal following the release of a secret recording of a conversation between McKenzie and the witness.

A court has awarded only $100 in nominal damages to the owner of a $5 million industrial site in the ACT, despite finding there was cracking in a concrete slab covered by a warranty. 

A judge has dispensed with court rules to allow shopfitter Ramvek to bring a non-compliant summary judgment application against a builder in a payment dispute, saying strict compliance with the rules was at odds with the procedure and policy of the SOPA.