Judges

McDonald’s knew that employees across its stores were not being given continuous 10-minute rest breaks and that its time-keeping systems were deficient, a judge heard on the first day of trial in an underpayments class action that could include 370,000 workers.

'Carpark King' Damian Lester has failed to persuade the Federal Court to stop law firm ERA Legal from representing lenders that he alleges engaged in unconscionable conduct over a $66.7 loan.

After pocketing a partial settlement in the case, the funder behind a class action over the collapse of mining company CuDeco has copped criticism by a judge for defaulting on orders for security for defence costs.

Building surveyor McKenzie Group has denied negligence claims in a case over the use of combustible cladding on Lendlease's Exo apartment complex at Melbourne's Docklands, telling a court the construction giant didn't rely on its advice and switched the cladding without its knowledge. 

Westpac has been hit with a $26 million penalty -- just shy of the $30 million sought by ASIC -- for failing to respond to online hardship applications on time on 277 occasions, in conduct described as “grossly negligent”. 

The owners corporation of a 36-unit apartment block in North Sydney that has been locked in a long-running fight with the developers over defects has won $2.5 million after the parties settled on the eve of the trial.

The family of the late pastoralist Thomas Brickworth is on the hook for damage caused by a 2021 bushfire, after an appeals court found it was reasonable to conclude that the fire originated from a vegetation heap that smouldered for months before catching fire. 

A judge has rejected a bid by a shareholder class action against water treatment firm Phoslock and auditor KPMG to put off paying $1.6 million in overdue cash security while negotiations about an ATE policy are on foot.

A recent judgment that clarified the date for assessing best method knowledge for divisional patents appears to create new difficulties for patent applicants, lawyers say.

A judge has stayed a judgment under the Security of Payment Act, finding that “exceptional circumstances” were not needed to justify such an order in light of a recent judgment that issued a rare stay of a SOPA determination.