A judge overseeing the Montara oil spill class action has found the Federal Court’s broad discretion under the class action regime is “outflanked” by the need to give group members a chance to opt out. But resolving that question on Thursday — which has divided the courts — caused a further wrinkle ahead of a hearing to weigh a settlement in the case.
A group of Jewish and Israeli former students who have accused a Victorian high school of allowing racially-charged bullying have defeated a bid by the state government to adjourn evidence at trial after its silk was diagnosed with COVID-19.
Automotive electronics company Directed Electronics has largely prevailed in a five-year-old lawsuit alleging a former manager misappropriated company information and reaped $3.6 million in commissions through a secret side agreement with South Korean giant Hanhwa.
The Albanese government has removed provisions from sex harassment legislation that passed the senate on Friday which would have forced parties to bear their own costs in harassment litigation, after dozens of lawyers expressed “deep concern”.
The lead applicant in a class action on behalf of investors who sank $12.3 million into an allegedly fraudulent sports betting scheme run by convicted conman Peter Foster may drop the case after a partner in the scheme filed for bankruptcy.
A judge has questioned a tiered contingency fee arrangement in a proposed group costs order by the law firm running a shareholder class action against Crown, asking whether the lower-end percentages were “meaningless”.
Insurer Allianz has lost its bid to claw back millions in performance bonds provided to collapsed building company Probuild in relation to works at a $1 billion development in the Melbourne CBD.
Australian pharmaceutical company AUPharma has sued the international arm of Purdue, alleging it was wrongly granted patent extensions for several oxycodone products marketed as Targin.
The ACCC has secured its first enforcement outcome related solely to the concerted practices provisions of the competition law, in a case that shows the watchdog is willing to take action to prevent what it sees as anti-competitive practices that include sharing sensitive price information, write Gilbert + Tobin’s Jeremy Jose, Sarah Lynch and Katie Latham.
A judge has dismissed a class action brought against animal health giant Zoetis over alleged side effects resulting from its Hendra virus horse vaccine, finding there were “too many uncertainties” in the applicant’s evidence.