A $13.5 million settlement has been reached in a Gadens-led class action against former Quintis director Frank Wilson, and the funder of a rival class action is preparing to seek a chunk of the sum in what a judge has called a “most unusual circumstance”.
Transurban has settled a lawsuit by the former head of legal for its West Gate Tunnel project alleging she was made redundant after complaining about a “culture of fear and intimidation on the project”.
A class action has lost its appeal to the High Court in a case alleging Advanta Seeds owed damages to farmers for the economic loss resulting from its negligence in producing contaminated grain sorghum seed, with the justices clarifying that a duty of care may be established only if responsibility is assumed.
The Full Court is set to weigh in on whether judges who make adverse findings on credibility during the liability phase of a hearing should recuse themselves from determining penalty, an issue which a judge has said may require a new court protocol.
Senator Linda Reynolds has given evidence about the fallout of media reporting about Brittany Higgins’ rape allegations, saying she experienced health problems from the stress and felt she could not defend herself in the public eye since it was a criminal matter.
A judge has granted Brittany Higgins’ bid to subpoena text messages Linda Reynolds exchanged with accused rapist Bruce Lehrmann’s senior counsel, while also granting the senator’s bid for communications related to a fundraising page for Higgins.
A judge has signed off on a $23.1 million cut for funder Augusta of a $100 million settlement in a class action against Colonial First State, which he previously called “strange” and said may not reflect the risk the funder shared with Slater & Gordon in running the case.
IP Australia has rejected an Italian cheese lobby’s bid to block an American cheese maker from using a trade mark containing the word ‘asiago’, saying there was “very little evidence” Australians were aware of the cheese at all.
The High Court has been asked to overturn a Full Court decision finding lawyers can take a cut from a class action settlement under a solicitors’ common fund order and to finally settle the question of whether the court has the power to issue common fund orders at all.
Senator Linda Reynolds has taken the stand in her defamation case against Brittany Higgins, telling a court on Tuesday she encouraged the former staffer to go to the police after her alleged rape by colleague Bruce Lehrmann because she was “not the right person” to conduct an investigation.