A judge has vacated the next stage of an intellectual property fight between Motorola and Hytera Communications because of laws prohibiting witnesses located in China from giving unauthorised evidence via videolink, rejecting a “highly experimental procedural remedy” proposed by Motorola.
Victoria will allow judge-only trials as part of a raft of temporary new laws to be put in place to manage the COVID-19 pandemic.
Arguing that the court should not be “baulking at problems that have the potential to occur”, counsel for a class action against Ford is pushing back against a bid by the car maker to put the brakes on an upcoming virtual trial the company says will be too difficult and costly.
A judge has refused to delay a civil penalty hearing brought by ASIC against GetSwift, scheduled to begin in June, after the logistics company argued that the virtual hearing necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic would be prejudicial and the proceedings should be adjourned.
National Australia Bank and HSBC, which are suing the liquidators of collapsed retailer Dick Smith to recoup over $125 million in loans, have successfully fought off a bid by two former company directors for a series of financial reports.
Six law firms are working on a consolidated trial of multiple class actions over the collapse of retailer Dick Smith, but when the trial opened in the NSW Supreme Court this week, a lone barrister appeared in court before Justice Michael Ball, amid a sea of empty bar tables. Most of the hearing’s participants joined through a virtual courtroom while members of the public were invited to watch the trial unfold on a YouTube live stream. Welcome to litigating in the age of the coronavirus.
IOOF subsidiary Australian Executor Trustees has been hit with an $80.6 million judgment after breaching its duty as trustee in the sale of a 42,000 hectare timber plantation by collapsed forestry giant Gunns Group, and it can’t pass the liability on to Spark Helmore, despite the law firm’s inadequate advice.
Explosives maker Dyno Nobel has reached a mid-trial settlement in its case against its major rival, Orica, over a patent for a method for blasting rock at open cut mines.
A former Commonwealth Bank executive facing criminal commercial bribery charges has been ordered to hand over a number of documents in a US lawsuit brought by IT company Computer Sciences Corporation, but has avoided orders compelling him to take the witness stand.
Sparke Helmore has refuted allegations by IOOF subsidiary Australian Executor Trustees (SA) that it failed to provide proper legal advice to the trustee on a 2012 pine plantation sale that left 4,500 investors without millions of dollars worth of assets.