BHP has failed in a bid to shut down a class action over the Fundao dam failure pending criminal proceedings in Brazil, with a judge ruling the mining giant would not be prejudiced if the case proceeded for now.
A unit of Telstra contractor Tandem has lost its bid to de-class a ‘sham’ contracting class action brought on behalf of telecommunications workers who claim they were denied benefits by being misclassified as contractors.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has issued guidelines on consumers’ rights to refunds if a flight or event is shuttered due to the coronavirus, saying consumer guarantees could be affected if cancellation are caused by government restrictions.
Beer giant Lion has slapped a WA retailer with a trade mark lawsuit over an offensive t-shirt that features the mark for its Emu Export beer with the words “wife basher” emblazoned across the top.
Australia’s second largest debt recovery agency has been ordered to pay $500,000 after the company admitted breaching Australia’s consumer laws by unduly harassing and misleading three people over debts they did not owe.
The former boss of Sydney’s 2GB and Melbourne’s 3AW radio stations, Adam Lang, has resolved his defamation case against the publisher of the Daily Telegraph over articles he claimed portrayed him as an incompetent, sadistic executive who created a toxic work atmosphere.
If contingency fees are really so bad that they should be opposed as a matter of principle, why did each of the Productivity Commission, the Victorian Law Reform Commission, and the Australian Law Reform Commission recommend their introduction? The answer is that on close analysis, the arguments against contingency fees do not bear scrutiny, says NSW barrister Daniel Meyerowitz-Katz.
A settlement has been reached in a lawsuit against ‘Underbelly’ actor Damien Walshe-Howling alleging he sexually harassed an extra on the set of Channel Ten’s ‘Bikie Wars’ when he grabbed the actress and forced his tongue into her mouth.
Qantas Airways has repaid more than $7 million in underpayments and will make an additional $2 million in ‘apology’ payments to workers after self-reporting to the Fair Work Ombudsman that it incorrectly calculated the salary of hundreds of staff.
The Full Federal Court has thrown out an appeal by a former special counsel of HWL Ebsworth, ruling the senior practitioner was reasonably fired for violating the firm’s media policy in press interviews and not because of his political views.