Dam operator Seqwater will appeal its loss in a long-running class action over the 2011 Queensland floods that destroyed over 2,000 homes, a move derided by the lawyer for the flood victims, who called for “an end to the injustice” her clients have suffered.
A former managing director of Australian civil infrastructure contractor WBHO Infrastructure and his firm have lost their bid to cross-examine the company’s instructing solicitor at Corrs Chambers Westgarth as part of a $1 million share dispute that followed his termination.
A former prosecutor working for the Victorian Office of Public Prosecutions in its sexual offences division has won a $435,000 judgment by the state’s Supreme Court after being diagnosed with depression and PTSD during her time working there.
Contingency fees are one step closer to becoming a reality in Australia, after the Victorian Parliament voted to advance a bill that would allow lawyers in the state to earn a percentage of recoveries in class actions.
The judges overseeing two competing class actions against Monsanto in the Federal and Victorian Supreme Courts may hold a joint sitting as the multiplicity fight continues and the chemical giant flags a future bid to either transfer or permanently stay the state court proceeding.
Popstar Katy Perry has rejected claims of trade mark infringment by Sydney-based fashion designer Katie Perry, saying the designer “encouraged or acquiesced to” the singer’s use of her name on branded clothing sold in Australia.
Wood products giant Boral Timber has been found vicariously liable for a male worker’s sexual harrassment of a female colleague, with an appeals court overturning a ruling that it said took a judge more than six years to deliver and “regrettably” brought the administration of justice into disrepute.
Caterpillar has scored a victory in one of several legal challenges the construction equipment manufacturer has launched to protect its ‘cat’ trade marks, successfully opposing the registration of the ‘ironcat’ mark for tyres and auto maintenance.
Baker McKenzie has nabbed former King & Wood Mallesons special counsel Charlie Detmold for the law firm’s key banking and finance practice in Melbourne.
A bill under debate in the Victorian parliament that would allow class action lawyers to charge contingency fees would improve access to justice and help address the current wage theft ‘epidemic’, a state Labor politician has said.
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