A judge has signed off on the walkaway settlement reached in one of four St Patrick’s Day bushfire class actions filed by Maddens Lawyers, noting that the plaintiff faced a “very real risk of not succeeding” in some of its primary claims.
Consumer giant Unilever has dropped its challenge to a ruling that found competitor Beiersdorf did not make misleading claims about its Nivea clinical strength deodorant products.
Notwithstanding a recent increase in competing shareholder class actions, on the whole, competing class actions have remained unusual, and courts have demonstrated that they are well equipped to apply appropriate considerations and principles on a case by case basis, employing a range of case management tools to ensure justice is done without the need for legislative intervention, writes Slater & Gordon class action associate Victoria Sparks.
The ABC and Fairfax have lost their appeal seeking to revive a truth defense in a defamation case brought by Chinese businessman Dr Chau Chak Wing over a Four Corners program accusing him of espionage and links to the Chinese Communist Party.
The important decision by the Full Court of the Federal Court in Calidad Pty Ltd v Seiko Epson Corporation clarifies the position on an area of law that, surprisingly, is still developing in Australia, namely the scope of the implied licence issuing from the sale of a patented product, writes Duncan Longstaff and Roshan Evans of Shelston IP.
Australian coal miner Moreton Resources has won a Full Federal Court appeal over tax offsets it claims are owed over a failed pilot project testing underground coal gasification, a process which was ultimately banned in Queensland.
Rural supply giant Landmark’s has offered to sell three stores to win Australian Competition and Consumer Commission approval for its proposed $469 million takeover of competitor Ruralco, a move that would consolidate two of the three largest players in the rural merchandise market.
A judge has discontinued a class action brought against a Queensland law firm over allegedly non-compliant conditional costs agreements, after finding no evidence that anyone other than the lead plaintiff was interested in bringing a claim.
A Federal Court judge has admitted he insulted an applicant in a case against the Commonwealth when he inadvertently sent her an email meant for his associate, in which he sarcastically used the word “sigh” in response to the applicant advising the court of her hospitalisation.
Former King & Wood Mallesons managing partner Stuart Fuller will take the reins of KPMG’s global legal services division, the first Australian at the helm of the Big Four firm’s legal offering.