Judges

A judge won't stay a reference process which US company Fluor claims is infected with bias, in a "monumental" dispute with energy giant Santos that has already generated a $57.5 million legal bill for the engineering firm.

Liquidators of Sargon Capital are pursuing a claim for $4 million against super trustee firm Diversa and are investigating potential insolvent trading claims against the collapsed fintech's directors.

A judge has approved a $50.45 million settlement in a class action by family members and deceased estates of the Northern Territory Stolen Generations. He has also approved a 13 per cent funding commission by way of a common fund order, saying debates about CFOs had become “lost in the label”.

In a novel decision, a judge has found that a liquidator is entitled to claim his “arguably disproportionate” costs ahead of the preferred claims of company employees.

The relationship between police and prosecutors involved in the criminal case against accused rapist Bruce Lehrmann was "beset by tension" from the outset, an inquiry has heard.

Coffee brand Vittoria can't transfer a case over the trade mark for rival Moccona's instant coffee jar from one Federal Court registry to another, with a judge reminding the company that the court was "well into the 21st century" and could livestream hearings without the need for interstate travel.

The builder of an allegedly defective Haymarket apartment building has lost an appeal of a decision which found that separate breaches of statutory building warranties do not create individual causes of action.

A judge has refused Nine’s bid to file a defence which he found was replete with unsupported allegations against Euro Pacific Bank boss Peter Schiff, but has given the broadcaster another chance to argue that defamatory allegations it made against Schiff in a 60 Minutes episode were true.

Fund manager Pendal Group has fended off calls to produce documents two months out from trial in a case by a portfolio manager who alleges he was threatened with termination while on stress leave, and later made redundant.

The authorised representative of forex broker Union Standard can't exclude parts of an opinion by an ASIC-appointed expert in a case alleging it traded in margin products with Chinese clients despite knowing it was illegal under Chinese law.