Water supplier and dam operator Seqwater has won its high-stakes challenge to a ruling finding it liable for the 2011 Queensland floods and sticking it with half the damages owed to thousands of class action members.
The Murray-Darling Basin Authority will soon make its case directly to an appeals court that it can rely on defences limiting its liability to farmers in a class action alleging negligent oversight of the river system, a question that could have implications for other climate change cases against government agencies.
A resident group’s last ditch attempt to prevent the NSW government from relocating a locally significant heritage building has been dismissed by the NSW Supreme Court of Appeal, paving the way for the development of a $915 million museum in Parramatta.
An appeals court has split on whether a judge’s grilling of an expert witness in a personal injury case was appropriate, with the dissenting judge saying the questioning — which took up more than two-thirds of the cross examination — was excesssive, and hostile in parts.
NSW public sector employees have lost their bid for a 2.5 per cent salary increase, with an appeals court upholding a decision which found the economy would be better served by public spending on infrastructure investment than public service salaries.
Two shareholders of failed Arrium Group have secured leave from the High Court to challenge a ruling that nixed their planned examination of a former director to bolster a class action over the collapse of the steel producer.
IOOF subsidiary Australian Executor Trustees failed to drag law firm Sparke Helmore into a case after it was hit with a $76.6 million judgment over breaches of duty in the sale of a 42,000 hectare timber plantation by collapsed forestry giant Gunns Group.
Former Leighton Holdings chief financial officer Peter Gregg has won his appeal of convictions last year over an alleged sham contract with a steel supplier, with an appeals court on Wednesday saying there had been a “substantial miscarriage of justice”.
Liquidators for collapsed steel and mining giant Arrium have successfully appealed a court ruling permitting the examination of a former director for a possible shareholder class action, with the Court of Appeal for the NSW Supreme Court finding the “private nature” of the claims was an abuse of process.
An appeals court has vacated orders sending opt out and registration notices to shareholders in a class action against AMP after a successful challenge by the lead plaintiff in a competing class action that was stayed after a high-profile litigation beauty parade last year.