The law firm that secured a $44.5 million settlement in a class action against Woolworths has won its full $14.5 million in costs, with a judge tossing the report of the referee he appointed to examine the fees, which he said appeared double what they should be.
Insolvency practitioners are holding their breath as the High Court hears a case that could abolish a key rule used by liquidators in recouping payments to unsecured creditors at a time when the industry is bracing for a possible recession.
Medical glove maker Ansell is facing a shareholder class action investigation over a January earnings downgrade that sent the company’s share price plummeting.
A judge has questioned AMP Financial Planning over whether it breached court orders to compensate customers after finding the firm failed to prevent a now banned adviser from churning life insurance for higher commissions.
Luxury car makers BMW and Mercedes-Benz are facing separate $100 million class actions over the alleged use of cheat devices on emissions tests.
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has been ordered to pay former colleague Brian Burston $250,000 for “seriously damaging” and malicious comments made in a Today Show interview.
Airservices Australia has succeeded in overturning a “manifestly unreasonable” $72,450 fine, but otherwise failed in its appeal of a decision which found it breached an enterprise agreement by withdrawing guidelines for standby shifts for air traffic controllers.
The public and political response to the Optus incident, including the federal government’s announcement of urgent privacy law reform, suggests there may now be an appetite to test obstacles to data breach class actions, or for the government to legislate around them, say Allens lawyers Kate Austin, Valeska Bloch, Isabelle Guyot and Andrew Burns.
Toyota Australia has been hit with a class action on behalf of up to half a million owners of diesel-powered vehicles which allegedly contain diesel ‘defeat devices’ that allowed the car manufacturer to cheat on emissions tests.
A judge has ordered Shine Lawyers to pay indemnity costs in a side dispute over an “objectionable” subpoena the firm issued five days before trial was set to start in a personal injury case over alleged sexual abuse at the Brisbane Youth Detention Centre.