Senior restructuring and insolvency lawyers have welcomed a novel ruling that found a liquidator was entitled to claim his costs ahead of the preferred claims of company employees, but questions remain about the “potentially difficult” interaction between two conflicting priority regimes.
A judge won’t stay a reference process which US company Fluor claims is infected with bias, in a “monumental” dispute with energy giant Santos that has already generated a $57.5 million legal bill for the engineering firm.
A sacked Myer executive has brought Fair Work proceedings against her former employer, seeking over $700,000 in compensation after she was allegedly unfairly dismissed for complaining about a general manager’s “belittling” conduct.
A judge has approved a $50.45 million settlement in a class action by family members and deceased estates of the Northern Territory Stolen Generations. He has also approved a 13 per cent funding commission by way of a common fund order, saying debates about CFOs had become “lost in the label”.
In a novel decision, a judge has found that a liquidator is entitled to claim his “arguably disproportionate” costs ahead of the preferred claims of company employees.
Coffee brand Vittoria can’t transfer a case over the trade mark for rival Moccona’s instant coffee jar from one Federal Court registry to another, with a judge reminding the company that the court was “well into the 21st century” and could livestream hearings without the need for interstate travel.
The builder of an allegedly defective Haymarket apartment building has lost an appeal of a decision which found that separate breaches of statutory building warranties do not create individual causes of action.
The former dean of art school LCI Melbourne is seeking over $860,000 in compensation in a case alleging she was unfairly sacked via Instagram direct message because she took paid annual leave during “the most important term of the year”.
The authorised representative of forex broker Union Standard can’t exclude parts of an opinion by an ASIC-appointed expert in a case alleging it traded in margin products with Chinese clients despite knowing it was illegal under Chinese law.
Car electronics company Directed Electronics has challenged a ruling that partially dismissed its case over the alleged misappropriation of trade secrets by a former manager, who was found to have pocketed $3.6 million in commissions through a secret agreement with rival Hanhwa.