Judges

Opposition leader Peter Dutton has questioned a costs agreement between refugee activist Shane Bazzi and his solicitors in a defamation dispute, raising the possibility that "sham bills" may have been provided to the court to assess the costs to which Bazzi is entitled for his successful appeal.

Google has agreed to pay a $60 million penalty in proceedings brought by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission alleging the tech giant misled users about the collection and use of their location data.

The liquidator of Fogo Brazilia has lost a bid for a gross sum costs order against the restaurant chain, after a judge found that legal representatives Piper Alderman did not appear to appropriately delegate, with hours of grunt work performed by a partner at the firm.

WA premier Mark McGowan has won the legal costs of running his defamation cross-claim against businessman Clive Palmer after a judge learned McGowan made a walk-away settlement offer in December last year.

A shareholder class action against Ernst & Young over its alleged inflation of assets owned by sandalwood producer Quintis has argued the accounting firm should be allowed only one expert witness, who should collaborate with a competing expert chosen by the investors.

A judge overseeing the trial in a shareholder class action against chain logistics company Brambles has questioned the company's use of long-term financial forecasts.

A Globaltech patent for mining survey tools is facing another test, with rival technology company Reflex Technologies lodging an appeal after its invalidity challenge flopped.

An appeals court has rejected a bid to challenge a decision forcing an unnamed litigation funder to give $415,000 in security for the NSW government’s defence costs in a class action alleging the fraudulent acquisition of land for the construction of the $16 billion WestConnex tunnel.

A judge has pulled up three legal teams over slow progress in a class action against Allianz over add-on car insurance, saying lawyers’ correspondence to the court may force her to “micromanage” the proceeding.

The first ever amicus appointed in a fight over the wording of an opt out notice in a class action has told a court a proposed novel funding model in a case against retirement home provider Aveo Group could be a "nightmare scenario" for certain group members.