US white shoe firm White & Case has snagged a leading tax partner from Herbert Smith Freehills’ tax firm to bolster its growing team in Australia.
A judge has fined Ardent Leisure $3.6 million after the operator of the Dreamworld theme park pleaded guilty to three charges stemming from the 2016 deaths of four people on the park’s now demolished Thunder River Rapids ride.
The Australian arm of global winemaker Accolade Wines has filed Federal Court proceedings opposing three trade mark applications by the children of a South Australian wine producing couple that sold Grant Burge Wines to Accolade more than five years ago.
Women’s fashion designer Pinnacle Runway must pay indemnity costs for pursuing what a judge has described as an “ill-advised” trade mark infringement lawsuit against a rival that “cried out to be settled”.
GetSwift is keeping up its fight to have the judge overseeing a shareholder class action disqualify himself from the proceedings after overseeing the trial in the corporate regulator’s case against the logistics provider.
Herbert Smith Freehills has discovered it underpaid a number of its graduate lawyers, with some in the Big Six firm’s graduate ranks owed more than $20,000.
Hungry Jack’s is defending its ‘Big Jack’ against trade mark infringement claims by rival fast-food chain McDonald’s, saying the burger’s moniker incorporates its founder’s name with nothing more than a descriptive word for its large size that is “commonly” used by other fast-food restaurants.
Sports presenter Erin Molan has fired off a defamation lawsuit over the Daily Mail’s coverage of a remark she made during Nine’s Continuous Call radio program which she claims implied she was a racist who deliberately mocked the names of Pacific Islanders on air.
As the economic impact of Covid-19 continues to develop, we can expect promoters of class actions to explore claims which arise from the pandemic – some of these will be in familiar territory, whilst other claim may be novel, say Herbert Smith Freehills’ Harry Edwards and Dylan O’Keefe.
Telstra has suffered a defeat in its lawsuit accusing competitor Singtel Optus of violating consumer laws with ads claiming it is “covering more of Australia than ever before”, with a judge calling Telstra’s allegations that the ads implied a comparison with other telcos “strained and fanciful”.