A Victorian Liberal MP seeking damages for allegedly defamatory Facebook statements has been given the green light to proceed with a judge-only trial, after jury trials were suspended in Victoria amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
A judge has declined to make a common fund order in approving a $35 million settlement in a shareholder class action against telecommunications firm Vocus Group, resulting in a reduced payout for the funders that backed the case.
GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis have agreed to a combined penalty of $4.5 million after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission accused the pharmaceutical giants of making misleading claims in marketing their Voltaren Osteo Gel and Voltaren Emulgel pain relief products.
A group of Queensland taxi drivers has lost the bulk of a lawsuit seeking compensation from the state government for losses allegedly caused by ride sharing services like Uber, with a court dismissing the drivers’ claims as “fanciful”.
Directed Electronics has slammed a decision by one of its former managers to switch lawyers in the middle of a trial over alleged corporate theft, saying the move had a “tactical flavour”.
Airlines could be the first targets of an anticipated COVID-19 class action blitz, with a major law firm threatening litigation against Qantas, Jetstar and other travel providers for compensating customers on shuttered flights with vouchers instead of full refunds.
A former customer service manager for Qantas who claims to suffer from severe depression and anxiety has brought allegations of disability discrimination against Maurice Blackburn, claiming the law firm put pressure on her to settle her workers compensation case against the airline.
Law firm K&L Gates has been hit with a $3 million lawsuit by former clients alleging breaches of duty of care and fiduciary duties after a Victorian Supreme Court loss in a joint venture dispute.
A judge has declassed one of three class actions against Monsanto over its allegedly cancer-causing weedkiller and chosen the proceedings brought by heavyweight plaintiff-firm Maurice Blackburn to go first, while seeking to appease the competing firm’s fear of being “swallowed” by a larger rival.
Google has been ordered to pay Melbourne gangland lawyer George Defteros $40,000 after it was found to have defamed him by publishing a link to an article that implied he had “crossed the already blurred line” between being a criminal solicitor and being a confidant to his underworld clients.