Editors and journalists from Australia’s largest news organisations have protested recent changes to the Federal Court Rules that restrict the public’s access to documents filed with the court, calling it a “full-frontal assault” on open justice.
Microsoft has won a pittance for copyright infringement but copped a “substantial costs order” in its six-year-old intellectual property suit against a Melbourne computer retailer over its Windows 7 software, which previously netted the Silicon Valley giant a $2.8 million payout from Judge Sandy Street that was slammed as a “regrettable” judicial failure.
Hancock Prospecting has lost a bid to shut down court cases brought by fellow mining giants Wright Prospecting and DFD Rhodes until the outcome of a family arbitration, after a judge found the company’s own forensic choices made the risk of inconsistent decisions inevitable.
A judge who previously acted for a United Petroleum Group company in a “highly acrimonious” case eight years ago has refused to recuse herself from adjudicating a new dispute involving a related company.
A prominent Melbourne lawyer and his wife have been restrained from acting in a property dispute, after a judge found they misled the court and facilitated a false settlement in favour of their clients.
In reasons for approving a $41 million deal to settle one of three shareholder class actions over Slater & Gordon’s acquisition of a UK firm and awarding the funder 28 per cent, a judge has challenged a persistent notion that the interests of litigation funders and group members are at odds.
A judge has approved a $450,000 penalty against Australian Mines in ASIC proceedings brought after its managing director was allegedly caught lying at an investment conference about the value of an offtake agreement and funding for a project at its cobalt and nickel mine in Queensland.
A judge has dismissed a class action brought by a pensioner against the Department of Social Services over its real estate asset testing for pensions, citing his lack of legal representation.
Former president of the Melbourne Football Club and Clayton Utz veteran Glen Bartlett has lost a bid to keep his defamation case against four MFC board members in Western Australia, with a judge finding the “relevant characters overwhelmingly continue to live in Melbourne.”
Sportsbet has won an injunction preventing the owner of the sportsbet.com domain from prosecuting an action in the US, which a judge said sought to interfere with an Australian domain name battle “in the most stark fashion.”