Judges

In the final chapter of a years-long fight, an appeals court has ordered a NSW prefab home builder to pay almost $500,000 in damages after finding it engaging in misleading and deceptive conduct to convince a couple to vary their contract to allow the use of cladding they had previously rejected.

Another judge has railed against the use of generative AI in court proceedings, after a self-represented litigant filed an application to annul his bankruptcy that was replete with fake citations.

The judge overseeing the Robodebt class action, which settled this month for a record $548.5 million, may put the settlement administration role out to tender, saying the sum earmarked for the job was "staggeringly large".

Construction company Mossop has lost an appeal of a decision for concreter Contek, with an appeals court upholding a judgment accounting for all payment claims in the case, even those subject to agreement before trial.

Mining giant BHP and its in-house labour hire subsidiary have failed in their Federal Court bid to stay same job, same pay orders by the Fair Work Commission ahead of an appeal.

The developer of a 683-lot project in Glenmore Park, NSW has lost its bid to strike out parts of a class action by owners and investors alleging the land on which the development sits is unsuitable for residential construction.

A judge has flagged the possibility of referring lawyers acting for Alvarez & Marsal to the legal watchdog after hearing the consultant's costs of complying with preliminary discovery orders won by Ernst & Young could top $500,000.

A judge has put off deciding what damages group members are owed in two class actions against Apple and Google after finding the tech companies engaged in anti-competitive conduct in the app marketplace.

A judge has ordered tech company Vehicle Management Systems to hurry up and choose between damages or an account of profits in its IP dispute with the city of Melbourne over a sensor-based system for timing parked vehicles.

An appeals court has thrown out challenges by three mining giants to a Fair Work Commission decision that requires them to bargain together with a group of employees and their union.