Appeals

A judge has allowed Aristocrat to appeal a judge's rejection of its application to patent its Lightning Link poker machine, citing novel questions raised by an equally split High Court decision about the patentability of its invention.

An appeals court has found that a judge was not justified in dismissing a negligence case by a call centre worker who left her job over abusive phone calls, saying the judge failed to engage with the issues needed to decide the dispute.

Carnival PLC has denied that a passenger, whose husband contracted COVID-19 and had to be put on a ventilator, had a “horrible” time aboard the ill-fated Ruby Princess, in a class action’s appeal of a finding that she was only entitled to $4,000 in damages.

A class action against Carnival over a COVID-19 outbreak aboard its Ruby Princess cruise ship has told the Full Court the lead applicant is entitled to damages "far in excess" of the $4,000 awarded by the trial judge for distress and disappointment.

Cruise operator Carnival PLC has mounted a cross-appeal aimed at overturning a judge’s finding that it negligently failed to prevent a COVID-19 outbreak aboard the Ruby Princess cruise ship, telling the Full Court that the primary judge’s findings were not consistent with his reasons.

BlueScope Steel is seeking to overturn a record $57.5 million penalty for engaging in attempted price-fixing with flat steel distributors, telling an appeals court that it was simply trying to make its competitors understand “it was in their interests to price differently”. 

Former Liberal MP Andrew Laming has been hit with a $40,000 fine for failing to disclose that he was behind three politically motivated Facebook posts in 2018 and 2019.

A Sydney barrister and solicitor have settled a dispute over a $320,000 bill initially estimated to cost $60,000 after an appeals court found two costs agreements were void and held that courts should take a “purposive approach” to the rules governing costs disclosure obligations. 

HWL Ebsworth has won indemnity costs against a former client who alleged the firm gave negligent advice over property in Parramatta’s 'Auto Alley', with a court saying the client was the “author of the outcome about which it complains” by rejecting a $1.35 million settlement offer.

The former general manager of iProsperity has lost his challenge to the collapsed fund manager's liquidators getting more time to investigate $18 million in payments he received, with the Full Court finding they were not wrong to prioritise investigations into $62.5 million in payments to Crown and The Star.