COVID-19

A judge has rejected claims by Gladstone Ports Corporation that security for costs in a $100 million class action by commercial fishing operators should not be paid through a London-based insurer because of the impact of Brexit and COVID-19.

A court has granted a bid by two directors of Thai Airways to preserve the airline's Australian assets as the company, which was hit hard due to the COVID-19 pandemic, undergoes an urgent restructure in Thailand.

Before the High Court hears constitutional arguments over the Queensland and Western Australian border closures, the Federal Court will have to weigh just how real the risk is of border hoppers increasing the number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the states, a judge has been told.

A Federal Court judge overseeing Papua New Guinean Politician William Duma’s defamation lawsuit against Fairfax Media has said he would like to move case management hearings online permanently, saying the move to virtual courtrooms was one good that had resulted from the coronavirus pandemic.

The era of online hearings during the COVID-19 pandemic has made advocacy more challenging for counsel representing parties in litigation, but a happy consequence of the virtual courtroom is an end to intimidation, harassment and in some cases bullying by male barristers and judges, female barristers have told Lawyerly.

The Chief Justice of the NSW Supreme Court told Lawyerly the court will adopt a flexible mixture of virtual and in-person hearings in the long term, as courts and the country slowly awaken from COVID-19 lockdown.

To avoid a creditor panic in the midst of the COVID-19 health crisis, the NSW Supreme Court has appointed a receiver instead of a liquidator to a rural hotel that is the centre of a deadlocked shareholder dispute over more than $2.7 million.

There may not be enough registered liquidators in Australia to respond to a possible wave of COVID-19 insolvencies, the Australian Securities and Investment Commission has warned.

A leading workplace law firm has launched a landmark test case against a Victorian finance company and its CEO, alleging that they unlawfully slashed an employee’s salary by 80 per cent under the guise of the coronavirus pandemic.

An employee from not-for-profit aged care health provider Ozcare who claims the company discriminated against her through its mandatory flu vaccine policies has had her case thrown out of the Fair Work Commission.