General Motors has been accused of having “carefully curated” its list of witnesses to avoid giving evidence about the car maker’s decision to stop supplying Holden-branded vehicles in Australia, as trial in a class action by Holden dealers kicks off.
Grocon has taken a hit in its $270 million lawsuit against Infrastructure NSW over a stalled $2 billion Central Barangaroo development project, with a judge finding the developer’s CEO waived privilege over legal advice it received on the sight line rights of Lendlease and Crown.
A judge has restrained a Perth law firm from acting in a case against developer Tina Bazzo and her husband, finding an information barrier protocol was not enough to offset concerns about the firm’s prior representation of Bazzo in another dispute.
A judge has expressed his preliminary view that cases brought in Queensland cannot be thrown out where the costs of the claims are disproportionate to their importance, allowing a defamation case by entrepreneur Robert McVicker against the ABC to proceed.
An appeals court has set aside findings of professional misconduct against a Perth solicitor who allegedly failed to pay a silk $23,000 in fees after finding a tribunal member had served on a chambers’ board with the senior barrister for eight years.
A judge has approved a common fund order awarding $6.88 million to the funder behind a class action against Fonterra that settled for $25 million, opting not to wait for a much-anticipated appeals court ruling on the power to make CFOs at settlement.
A class action against a group of surgeons who worked for The Cosmetic Institute over allegedly incompetent breast augmentation procedures has been set down for trial over the “loud protest” of the defendants, with a judge choosing to accommodate the plaintiff’s no win, no fee counsel team.
One law firm has emerged victorious in a four-way contest to run a shareholder class action against Star Entertainment with the lowest proposed group costs order since contingency fees legislation was enacted in Victoria.
Clayton Utz has lost its appeal of a costs assessment in a contractual dispute for which it billed $1.46 million in legal fees, allegedly five times more than the other parties’ legal bill.
A self-executing order dismissing a woman’s false imprisonment claim against the State of Victoria after a single attempt at pleading was “draconian”, an appeals court has found.