Judges

Spanish infrastructure company Acciona has filed a lawsuit to get out of an engineering and construction contract for the $696 million Kwinana waste-to-energy plant in Western Australia, citing disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic.

A judge has questioned property developer PPK Group's challenge to the dismissal of its long-running negligence case against HWL Ebsworth over the $25.5 million sale of Crown-owned land in Sydney.

The parents of accused Sydney fraudster Melissa Caddick may need to bring court proceedings to retain their $2.6 million Edgecliff home and recoup $1.2 million they gave to their daughter for the mortgage.

A court has delayed a hearing on a bid by the applicant in a class action against Dixon Advisory to freeze a $7.2 million penalty secured by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission against the self-managed superfund provider so the corporate regulator can consider its position on the request.

The lawyers and funder behind a shareholder class action against Crown Resorts will be asking the court to approve fees and commission worth 35 per cent of a $125 million settlement with the gaming giant, leaving over $81 million for group members.

Defence minister Peter Dutton has won $35,000 in damages in a defamation case over a tweet accusing him of being a rape apologist, with a judge finding the tweet conveyed that the minister “excuses rape”.

Hospitality giant Merivale has streamlined its defence of a $129 million underpayment class action, arguing that it shouldn't be expected to back pay employees because it operated its business under the mistaken belief that its enterprise agreement governing staff at 70 of its venues was valid.

Supermarket chain Romeo's has reached a settlement in two class actions alleging staff were underpaid, but details of the agreements are scant.

A judge has directed that the legal fees and funding commission sought to be deducted from a $125 million class action settlement with Crown Resorts be included in a proposed notice to shareholders, after learning that group members were forced to click through to Maurice Blackburn's website to find the "critical" figures.

A lawyer for Rentokil has told a court the pest control company is scratching its head over the defence by a former manager accused of a $3.2 million fraudulent invoice scheme, noting the employee admits invoices were paid into his personal account.