A law firm that brought a slew of individual claims on behalf of group members in the Ethicon pelvic mesh class action should have to personally pay the costs of a series of case management hearings because they were a waste of time, a court has heard.
Sparke Helmore has become the latest law firm to take steps to control costs in response to the coronavirus pandemic, announcing that it will suspend salary increases for the next financial year.
An appeals court has overturned a ruling ordering class closure in seven representative proceedings against car makers over defective Takata airbags, finding courts do not have the power to make class closure orders.
The lead applicant in a shareholder class action against Crown Resorts is considering alternative options for examining 18 former jailed employees after an appeals court found communication with the employees was impermissible given confidentiality agreements they had with Crown.
Engineering firm Adcon has failed in a bid to block developer Icon from accessing a $396,000 bank guarantee after delays in the development of the Botanic Melbourne residential apartment complex.
The High Court will not hear a challenge to a ruling that found two companies previously run by Joseph “Diamond Joe” Gutnik and his family were insolvent.
The power of courts to choose a single winner from a contest of competing class actions is not the likely target of the High Court in taking up a challenge to last year’s beauty parade of shareholder proceedings against AMP, but the analysis behind the decision to award Maurice Blackburn the prize could face scrutiny, experts say.
The Federal Court has found that Fuchs Lubricants infringed two patents owned by Quaker Chemicals by supplying hydraulic fluid to a Queensland mine owned by BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance.
Slater and Gordon’s directors and senior executives have taken a voluntary pay cut of up to 15 per cent in a move aimed at giving the firm flexibility to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
As the COVID-19 crisis leaves tens of thousands unemployed and charities struggling, law firms are responding by offering assistance to those in need through expanded pro bono work and community outreach programs that provide assistance to the country’s most vulnerable people.