Contracts

Three Clive Palmer-owned companies have filed a breach of trust lawsuit against HWL Ebsworth, funder Vannin Capital and the liquidators of Queensland Nickel attempting to recoup $102 million transferred after the billionaire suffered a courtroom defeat earlier this year.

Small business owners who turned to the Bank of Queensland for financial assistance were subject to unfair contract terms that created a "significant imbalance" in the rights of the bank and its customers, a court has held.

A court has ruled that labour hire firm CoreStaff cannot rely on its professional indemnity insurance to cover judgment against it in an employment class action alleging itmisled workers who relocated from Papua New Guinea to Australia for work.

The joint managers of Clive Palmer's Queensland Nickel refinery have been ordered to pay $26.6 million for natural gas charges owed, after a court rejected claims they did not need to repay the money because pipeline owners had breached their duties.

The Star Entertainment Group will not be able to recoup losses at its casinos and hotels stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, after a judge found the company's $4 billion industrial special risks policy did not cover financial losses from government-imposed restrictions.

Australian software company TechnologyOne has succeeded in its challenge to a $5.2 million judgment in an unfair dismissal case by a former high ranking executive, with an appeals court sending the matter back for a retrial.

Australian businesses have been urged to double check that their casual work contracts reflect a "true casual engagement" and ensure workers are properly classified following a landmark High Court ruling on casual worker classification.

Financial services giant Willis Towers Watson ordered a former executive to lie to clients on his way out of the organisation and imposed an "unreasonable" two-year employment restraint, a NSW Supreme Court has found.

An appeals court has found law firm Squire Patton Boggs breached its contractual obligations but was not grossly negligent after it was dragged into a financial dispute over the $12.5 million refurbishment of a Western Australian gold processing plant.

The Full Federal Court has found that Liberty Mutual Insurance, but not QBE, is required to cover Icon Construction's losses stemming from the Opal Tower disaster, which has caused the builder $31 million in losses.