Westpac, Macquarie and ANZ have won soft class closure orders ahead of mediation in three class actions over flexible commissions schemes after a judge found they will improve the chances of settlement. In a judgment handed down on Thursday, Victoria Supreme Court Justice Lisa Nichols ordered that group members have to formally register in the…
A court has set aside former Federal Minister for Resources Keith Pitt’s decision to develop a nuclear waste facility in Napandee in South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula, saying a fair-minded observer may have perceived that Pitt was biased in selecting the site over two other proposed locations.
A judge has rejected a bid by the administrator of a collapsed company to claw back a payment of security for costs made in earlier litigation, which he found did not give rise to a relevant security interest.
A Federal Court judge overseeing a class action against IG Markets over risky financial products has questioned whether courts should take a “more robust” approach to avoid the “nonsense” of competing class actions, amid the threat of a second class action being filed in the Supreme Court of Victoria.
A PricewaterhouseCoopers partner who is suing the accounting firm for giving him the boot over a tax leaks scandal has won an interim injunction restraining the board of partners from forcing him to leave before his case is heard.
A judge has upheld findings from IP Australia that South Korean biotech ToolGen’s genome editing technology CRISPR is not patentable, but given the company one more chance to seek to amend its application.
A judge has ruled insurer Vero can be added to a class action over allegedly combustible cladding, finding removal of the cladding could be considered “property damage” under the wording of an insurance contract with cladding manufacturer Fairview.
A union representing 54 junior doctors alleging they were systemically underpaid has defeated a bid by NSW Health to stay its case until the determination of a related class action on behalf of tens of thousands of medical officers.
The operators of a childcare business have failed to persuade a jury that a press conference by the Australian Federal Police about an alleged multimillion dollar government benefit fraud was defamatory.
A judge has warned the NSW government that the court does not make orders “subject to [its] internal policies” after the state failed to comply with orders to hand over documents in a class action over police strip searches.